


Powerless

by theoncomingwolf



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 15:37:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 34,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4751729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoncomingwolf/pseuds/theoncomingwolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearlnet HumanAU- Partners Pearl and Garnet raise Rose's son following her death. This human AU will go through the events of the show. I don't wish to merely retell exactly what we see, but with them as humans, so hopefully each episode will manage to be completely different while still tying in nicely to it's corresponding canon counterpart.</p><p>Will parallel SU, but with new stories and probably a little more cheekiness here and there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Gem Glow

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Hope you like! I will try to go episode by episode, pretty much. Some episodes will be skipped if humanizing them would produce the exact same outcome (eg. tshirt club), some episodes will be completely different due to this world being completely different, and some will have elements changed but hopefully still feel new and exciting to read. 
> 
> I have planned out everything so far, I just need to write it. It was quite fun translating all of this into real-world stuff. I feel bad having Ame around so much less (she is at college) but I'll definitely fit her in where she needs to be and also whenever I want her there just because. If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments. Thx

“It’s the centipeetle mother!” Steven exclaims, gently reaching forward to grab the creature in front of him.

It responds by promptly biting down on his arm, latching it’s claws in for extra pain.

“Ehh! Ahhh,” Steven wails, flopping onto his back and waving his arm to dislodge the teeth and claws, “hellllp!”

“Steven!” Pearl arrives seemingly out of nowhere, scaring the disgruntled cat away from him and taking a firm grip on his bleeding arm to examine the wounds inflicted by the grubby stray, “what were you thinking?”

“I was just playing!” Steven says, holding onto his hurt arm and relying on Pearl to lift him to his feet, “I didn’t hurt her or anything!”

“I know that,” Pearl says, “but that old cat’s afraid of everything, you need to leave it alone! Ugh, let’s wash your arm so it doesn’t get infected.”

“The centipeetle’s acid is a great risk to the young gem,” Steven narrates, distracting himself from the pain of the scratches as his adoptive mother pulls him through the door and towards the sink, “but the experienced Pearl will not let her young liege die so easi- ouch, Pearl, that hurts!”

“You’re not going to die, Steven,” Pearl huffs, holding Steven’s arm under the water until all the soap runs off, “it was just a cat.”

“It was a fearsome beast!” Steven corrects, not prepared to stop playing his game until his boo-boos are sorted.

“Hm,” Pearl hums, pushing onto her tippie-toes to grab the band-aid box from the cupboard, although she doesn’t really need the extra height, “and does our fearsome little warrior prefer Hello Kitty or Spiderman?”

“Pink please,” Steven says, “to match my shield.”

Pearl pats the water off his arm with a few paper towels, then carefully peels the wrapping off several mini Hello Kitty band-aids, pressing them over each of Steven’s marks. Two of the scratches take multiple of the small rectangles to cover.

“All sorted?”

“One more step,” Steven says, holding his arm as high as it will go.

Pearl leans down to press several quick kisses along Steven’s arm- he giggles at the contact.

“Looks like someone wasn’t using their shield.”

“Garnet!”

Pearl stands straight, smiling at the tall woman in the doorway. She has a small pink shield in her hand, retrieved from where it had been abandoned on the sand outside their house, in the dash for clean water and band-aids. Steven runs happily to greet her, wrapping his arms around her hips in a hug. She ruffles his hair with one hand and tosses the shield onto the couch with the other.

“Hello, Garnet,” Pearl greets, stepping over to immediately pick up the tossed piece of plastic and head up the stairs with it, “how was your day?”

“Eh, t’was fine,” she shrugs, “did you show Steven...?”

“I was waiting for you, since you were so insistent on it being your idea,” Pearl teases, voice carrying from Steven’s loft.

“It was my idea.”

Garnet climbs two steps, meeting Pearl on her way down and wrapping her arms around the smaller woman’s waist. The difference in steps puts them at about the same height, and Pearl leans in easily for a kiss.

“What was your idea?” Steven asks, excited.

He turns away at the displays of affection on the stairs, heading towards Pearl and Garnet’s room, where they must be hiding his surprise.

“This way Steven,” Pearl says, sweeping a hand towards the kitchen as she follows Garnet down the last couple of steps.

They stand back and wait for him to open and close every door and cabinet, smiling when he finally throws open the freezer door with a delighted gasp.

“What?” Steven says, hopping on the spot, “I thought they stopped making these!”

“Well, we heard that too, so we went out and bought the rest.”

“It was my idea,” Garnet repeats.

Steven jumps again, reaching in to grab an ice cream bar. He busts out into a familiar jingle before taking a bite.

“My idea worked,” Garnet whispers.


	2. Laser Light Cannon

“It’s sunset!”

“Yes, that’s nice,” Pearl mutters, peering intently at the set of numbers in front of her.

“I’ll be back later!” Steven tells her, throwing open the screen door, “I’m going to visit dad!”

“Greg?” Pearl says, in that tone of voice she usually says his name in, “what for?”

“He’s going to let me see if he has anything of mom’s! Cars stop coming when the sun goes down, so he said to come over then."

Pearl frowns.

“I... wouldn’t get your hopes up, Steven.” Pearl warns him, “What do want anyway? We have some things of Rose’s.”

“Yeah, but he might have bigger stuff!” Steven says, “I want to have something for my room, like a table, or a cool statue!”

“I don’t remember Rose having any cool statues- and what could Greg even keep in a van?” Pearl says, but Steven is already waving goodbye and letting the door drop closed, ideas of what he might find floating through his mind.

Greg’s asleep when he gets there. It’s been a slow day at the car wash.

Fortunately, the search perimeter extends past his van to a storage unit, stuffed full of old things from Greg’s life. It looks like it will be a bit of a challenge to look through, especially since Steven isn’t quite sure what he’s looking for, but he’s sure something that catches his eye will belong to his mother.

The golf clubs don’t. Nor do the drums or the t-shirt cannon- they’re Greg’s too. The picture he steps on might qualify, but he thinks he should leave that one for his dad. Pearl and Garnet keep pictures in the house anyway.

Then, something tall catches his eye.

“Daaaad?” Steven calls, “is the big pink lamp yours?”

“No,” he laughs, “never had much need for standing lamps- unless they’re spotlights!”

“So it’s mom’s?”

“Yeah! I remember her having a pink lamp in her apartment- that must be it. Do you want to take it?”

At Steven’s confirmation, Greg guides him through the steps of getting the lamp on the side and balancing it on the wagon to push it through the gap. Soon, Greg gets his first look at the thing for what feels like ages. 

He remembers it quite vividly now, but for some reason it hadn’t popped to mind when Steven asked if he had anything of his mom’s. It was a stylized, thick lamp with rose designs all around the edges and a petal-like formation on the lampshade. It’s a bit gaudy, to be honest, but it was just the sort of thing Rose loved and something she could get away with decorating her apartment with, like few others could.

Hopefully Steven can get away with it, too.

-

Pearl, as much as she loves elegance and order, also really loves Rose- and Steven- so the lamp stays. Garnet lifts the heavy object easily, taking it upstairs to find a nice spot in the corner of Steven’s room. He follows happily, leaving Greg with Pearl.

“Thanks for letting him keep it,” Greg says, always a little overwhelmed that these two unrelated women are taking care of his son, and not him. ‘Thanks for taking care of my son’ can only be said so many times, though.

The happy sounds of Steven guiding Garnet around for the perfect placement of the lamp float down from upstairs, and Greg is, as ever, convinced that he’s done the right thing.

“Oh, of course- he was so excited about the idea of having some of her furniture,” Pearl says, “I’m surprised you even had any... but, erhm, happy for him.”

Greg thinks that was a good thing. He’ll take it as such.

“It won’t light!”

Pearl ends up popping off the compartment at the back of the lamp, while Greg sticks to the less electrical job of consoling Steven. He can work lights, but wiring is another matter. 

“I mean, it's pretty old- but it's okay kiddo... If every porkchop was perfect-”

“We wouldn’t have hotdogs!"

Pearl’s prodding takes this moment to come into effect, and the occupants of the room find themselves bathed in a soft pink light.

“I don’t like hotdogs,” she offers, jamming the panel back on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought I may as well post chapter 2, since I had it written. Thx for the kudos so far- if you guys have any comments I'd love to hear them. Input is fine, too- I've only just started writing these so if anyone thinks they should be more [x], let me know and I'll consider it. :)  
> So far I am trying to not bore by repeating details, so these are going fast, but hopefully from now on, the chapters will differ enough from canon so that I can go into more detail.


	3. Cheesburger Backpack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is cuter and longer and I like it better than the other two.

“Amethyst!”

The short woman perched on his counter waves cheerily. Her college studies- and, mostly, social life- take up most of her time, but she likes to visit Steven when she can. Steven suspects she also misses living with Pearl sometimes, but she’ll never admit it quite so outright.

“You’ve got perfect timing!” he tells her, holding the package Jamie gave him above his head.

“Is it food?” Amethyst asks, swinging her legs so they thump repeatedly against the wall under the countertop; Pearl swats her arm with a warning about scuffing the paint. 

“You’re close!”

He tears the package open to reveal a novelty backpack- shaped like a cheeseburger. Amethyst slides down to get a closer look at the bag as Steven raves passionately about it.

Pearl watches from the kitchen, stirring a tea quietly.

“Awh, I blew it,” Steven says, “I was just going to wear it one day, and you guys were going to be like, ‘dang Steven, that’s cool’.”

“What’s it for?” Amethyst asks, squinting in one eye and prodding at the zippers.

“Important Crystal Gem business!” Steven says- Amethyst always plays along with his game- “it fits my shield and I bet a ton of other important things! We should use it to find out!”

“Use it on what, Steven?” Pearl asks, “You don’t even go to school- it’s not like you need to carry books.”

“People use backpacks for more than just school!” Steven defends, “Like, uh... trips?”

“Let’s go to Mars!” Amethyst yells, grabbing him around the waist and using considerable effort to hoist him off his feet. She seems as surprised as always that she can no longer lift him easily like when he was younger.

Steven giggles, flailing for the second he is lifted before Amethyst drops him back.

“Or a picnic!” He suggests, “On Mars! Amethyst, can you come? Do you have to go back to campus today?”

“Nah,” Amethyst shrugs, “I’ll go.”

Before Steven can formally invite Pearl, she is already pulling out ingredients to make proper little picnic meals for four, an excited little smile on her face at the idea of a picnic with her family. Steven collects the neat stack of baggies when she’s done, taking them up to his room to pack them along with the other essentials. 

His shield, of course. Some sweaters. His dad’s CD for the drive... Steven finds more and more ideas coming to him and stuffs as much as he can inside the large backpack, taking things out when he needs more room.

He comes downstairs at Pearl’s impatient calling to find that Garnet has also been gathered and is sitting on the couch, one ankle crossed over her opposite knee.

“Steven,” Pearl groans, “did you pack your whole room?”

The bag is heavy on his back, but he’s too excited to care, running down the steps at the front door before everyone else and making his way to where their car is parked past the beach. He arrives first, leaning his weight against the hot metal of the door while he waits for the others.

The backpack feels heavier every second he waits, but setting it down would look like defeat. He grips the straps tighter, relieved when he hears the soft clicks of the door unlocking. The trunk is always hard to open, but he gets it just as Garnet arrives to help. She moves the lid open with one hand, taking a firm grip on the handle of his backpack and lifting it before he has a chance to take it off. Steven moves onto his tippie-toes to counteract the sudden pull upwards and lifts his arms into the air so that Garnet doesn’t pop the bag into the back with him still in it.

Giggles fill the air around the car as she snatches at his shirt to throw him in anyway, but Steven moves out of reach and quickly jumps into the backseat, peering up through the back windshield for the moment Garnet closes the trunk so he can stick his tongue out at her.

Pearl’s quiet laugh turns to a huff of annoyance as Amethyst jumps into the trunk, insisting that she’ll “ride caboose”. The slender woman swats Garnet’s arm off of the lid before she can close it, pulling at Amethyst until she gets out. She closes the trunk to find Steven sticking his tongue out at her.

Garnet evicts Amethyst from the front seat, gesturing down at herself to show how much leg room she’s going to need, then punches the destination into the GPS. Steven’s not sure what Colleyville is, but he’s happy to see it’s pretty far from Beach City.

“Road Trip!” he cheers, throwing his hands up, “here, put this on!”

He hands a CD over to Garnet, who puts it into the slot without looking, resting her head against the window as it loads into the machine. Pearl pulls onto the main road leading out of the town as the musical talents of Greg Universe fill the car.

“Garnet! That’s not funny, close the door!” Pearl stabs the button for the radio before Garnet can joke anymore about throwing herself out of the vehicle, and the musical talents of Greg Universe are replaced by one of Steven’s favorite Taylor Swift songs. The trade off isn’t too bad at least.

-

They arrive at the seaside city just as everyone’s starting to get hungry. Amethyst is ready to eat right there in the car, but Pearl and Steven insist that they wait until they’re in a nice spot.

Steven hops out of the car first, digging around in his backpack for a couple of quarters to feed into the meter. Pearl tries to pay, insisting that he doesn’t need to spend any of his own coins on this adventure, but he insists.

“This vacation is on me!” Steven says, “I came prepared!”

“I don’t see why we had to come so far,” Amethyst complains, “this place isn’t that different from Beach City.”

“Picnic’s no fun if you’re too close to home,” Garnet says, nudging her glasses.

“Besides, this is the home of the Sea Spire!” Pearl chirps, leading the way along the beach to a grassy area way in the distance- beside it is a tall, dark light house, “it’s not on any more, but it’s still pretty. Garnet took me here on our first anniversary.”

Amethyst pulls a face as this, but trudges along behind them with no more words.

They walk along the sand for several minutes, watching the sunset light up the water beautifully. It would be a spectacular sight for most visitors to the city, but Amethyst is right- it’s more of the same for them. The lighthouse they’re approaching is nice at least, if a bit decrepit. It’s painted dark, unlike any other lighthouse she’s seen, and the gleam of the bulb is still visible, even if the light hasn’t been switched on in ten years.

Steven runs up the hill once they’ve arrived, carefully laying out a large blanket from the depths of his bag. Next comes a variety of plastic cups and plates, which he sets out neatly along with plastic silverware. At appropriate intervals on the very large blanket, he sets candles. In the middle goes his pink shield, intended purpose to act as a Lay Suzan that will hold all of the food. He sets Mr Queasy in the shield like a centerpiece.

“Ugh, kid don’t shake me,” the doll complains.

“Now for the food!” Amethyst insists, kicking her feet as Pearl oohs and ahs over the lovely composition of the blanket.

“Coming right u-” Steven stops short as he digs in his bag, “UHH....”

He dumps belongings out on the grass, pushing through a pile of sweaters, toys, cards, and other useless items that are not food.

“You forgot the food, didn’t you Steven,” Pearl sighs.

“I must’a left it on the bed!”

Amethyst groans, flopping onto her back.

“It’s a 3 hour drive home,” Garnet points out, unhelpfully- then, at Pearl’s look, adds- “I’m sure there’s something in walking distance, though. I’ll... just be back then.”

She stands, moving quickly toward the bright lights of the town that they left behind after parking their car.

“Did... you bring a lighter for the candles, Steven?” Pearl asks, trying to think of something to do while Garnet makes a food run.

“You won’t let me near lighters,” Steven squeaks.

“Well that’s okay... Ehm, candles can be dangerous any- Amethyst!”

“What?” she asks, continuing to use her pocket lighter to light up each of the wicks, “it’s not for cigarettes.”

“That’s hardly better,” Pearl grumbles.

“What’s it for?”

“Uhhh... rock concerts,” Amethyst says, smiling cheekily at Pearl, “I go to lots of rock concerts, so I just keep a lighter on me all the time.”

“That had better be all you keep on you,” Pearl warns.

Garnet arrives with Chinese take-out 15 minutes later. She strolls calmly up, but when Pearl leans against her she can tell that Garnet is breathing funny. It’s clear enough she ran at least some of the way back to get the food there faster.

Steven apologizes once again for leaving Pearl’s nicely made food at home, but she brushes it off. Amethyst insists Chinese is better than whatever Pearl made anyway.

Soon, any vestiges of the sun have passed and the only light comes from the sliver of moon and the endless smattering of stars above. Thin clouds drift lazily here and there, but for the most part, the night is clear and beautiful.

Garnet takes off her visor, settling down on the grass and pulling Pearl to rest her head on her shoulder. Steven cuddles up beside them, laying his head on Garnet’s stomach so that it also presses into Pearl’s side. Amethyst sits beside Pearl, flopping onto her back, splayed out like a starfish.

Pearl points out the constellations to Steven, ignoring Amethyst’s muttered, “nerd” as she goes in depth about some the stars that make each one up and what sorts of planets orbit around them. He listens with wonder, deciding it would be nice if the Gems in his game came from out beyond those stars.

Later, Garnet drives home, sitting in peaceful silence with Pearl and listening to the quiet breaths of the dozing two behind them.


	4. Together Breakfast

Steven wakes to the delightful realization that Amethyst is still over.

He peers over the edge of his loft to see if she’s on the couch. She’s not, but her bag is still there, so she must be too. He figures she’ll have to head back to campus soon, but he’s holding out hope that she’ll stay the whole weekend.

Steven jumps out of bed and heads downstairs, eager to have breakfast. The house is cleaner than it was last night, when Garnet carried him upstairs and Pearl was so exhausted from their picnic road trip that she went to her room without stopping to clear away any of the mess Steven had made before they went out.

Despite the signs of Pearl being awake, she is not in the main part of the house either, nor is Garnet, and Steven finds himself a tad bored with his usual waffles and no one to talk to. What’s in order is a more interesting breakfast for a more interesting morning.

In the end, what he makes is so beautiful it would be a crime to not share it- and what better time than when everyone is home? He knows Amethyst will wake for food, but he needs to gather Pearl and Garnet first, so she’s not waiting. Amethyst isn’t very patient.

Pearl walks in from outside before he can attempt to find her. She’s staring intently at her phone as she walks, which probably means she’s doing emails.

“Hi Pearl!” he greets.

“Good morning,” she says slowly back, squinting at the small screen as she walks past him without a glance spared.

“I made breakfast! Look how cool it is- I think we should eat together, since Amethyst is here!”

“That’s nice Steven,” Pearl says, before disappearing through the door leading into the hallways of the house.

“Awh,” he moans, slumping down on the counter.

If Pearl wasn’t going to listen, he was just going to have to follow her.

He finds her in her room, tidying. She and Garnet have a lot of stuff packed away in their closet, as well as some other things in what used to be- and occasionally still is- Amethyst’s room. Pearl is sitting on the floor, feet pressed together in a butterfly position as she leans over one of the three boxes she has out, sorting the contents inside carefully. 

She glances up quickly when Steven walks in, closing the lid of the box she has open and kicking up a leg to close the box to her left.

“What are you doing in here?” Pearl demands, and Steven realizes he forgot to knock.

“I thought we could have breakfast together,” Steven repeats.

“Oh; I already ate,” Pearl says, somewhat disdainfully eyeing the dish in Steven’s hands, but not missing the hopeful look on his face “...why don’t you wake Amethyst first, Steven? She might not be up for a while and I don’t really feel like waiting for her.”

“Okay!”

He is sure to pound on the door to Amethyst’s room for a second, listening for any answer before throwing the door open. She cares less about knocking, but his dad says to always knock on a lady’s door and Pearl seems to dislike when he enters without warning. 

Amethyst is, as he expects, fast asleep. It’s still pretty early.

“Amethyst!” he says, setting the plate on her dresser so he can hop up next to her on the bed, “I made breakfast!”

She groans, turning to him with her eyes screwed shut.

“What is it?” she asks, rubbing the dust out of her eyes; food is the one thing guaranteed to wake her. 

“Waffles!” Steven says, climbing down to stand next to them and gesture, “with a special Steven twist!”

He doesn’t miss that her hand moves to between her bed and nightstand.

Steven moves in front of the breakfast just in time to feel a spray of water hit his chest. 

“Amethyst!”

“Ha- got you!”

“Pearl’s going to be mad that you got water on the carpet,” he grumbles, annoyed that she almost ruined his hard work.

“Not that I got water on the Steven?” she asks, giving the supersoaker another pump, “I was thinking of hitting her with it if she woke me.”

“That sounds like a really bad idea,” Steven says, taking the Together Breakfast and making sure to keep his back to Amethyst.

“Yeah,” she laughs, pulling a shirt over the sports bra she wore to bed.

Pearl’s waiting in the hallway when he opens the door; she wastes no time in snatching the water gun out of Amethyst’s hands and tossing it into her room. 

“Hey!”

"Did you know, Steven, that the supersoaker was invented by someone at NASA?" Pearl says, "And did you know, Amethyst, that they are not for inside the house?"

"Give it back!"

"I can't believe I am having this conversation with the 25 year old and not the 12 year old."

Steven moves past the arguing pair, glancing back to see Pearl leaning against Amethyst’s door, trying to push the shorter woman back with her foot.  
The one exception to the knocking rule is the office. If Pearl and Garnet are using it, it’s sometimes because they have a telephone call, so Steven tends to quietly open the door instead, to visually check if she is busy. He opens it just a crack, so that Pearl and Amethyst’s squabbling doesn’t bother Garnet, but is relieved to find that she isn’t even at her desk, kneeling instead in front of the small fireplace built into the wall. 

“Hi Garnet!” he says, throwing open the door.

As she turns to look at him, Steven can see that she’s got some burning papers in her hand. The distraction seems to take a second too long, and the flames move downwards towards her fingertips before she has a chance to toss them into the fireplace.

“Ow,” she mutters, dropping the papers quickly into the trashbin, which is closer and requires less of a careful movement.

Pearl and Amethyst walk in at just about the moment the trashbin is filled with noticeable flames. 

“You should have let me keep my supersoaker,”

“Amethyst!” Pearl snaps, considering running for the fire extinguisher in case their wooden, nice, classy trashbin that Pearl likes so much catches fire too, “not the time!”

Before she can make the sprint, the fire is smothered by a perfect breakfast, dumped waffle first by an unhappy Steven.

“We’ll make you another,” Garnet assures him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are enjoying! Thanks to those who have commented thus far. :)


	5. Shield Buddies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! This one was fun to write. I needed a blend of the old and the AU. The bubble's not a thing here, but his shield is a thing that exists, so this chapter, like the occasional other "episodes" might, gets a name change from canon. 
> 
> Vague references to Frybo and Cat Fingers in the first paragraph, but skipped overall, because they don't translate in a way that I found interesting enough to spend time on. Steven helps Peedee through his troubles and he has a talk with his dad for Frybo. In Cat Fingers, Steven and Amethyst are playing Gems and he falls in a huge mud pile. Amethyst convinces him Pearl will be madder than she would actually be and he ends up making Greg hose him down. Nothing too serious.

Amethyst heads back to college come Monday. She’s got classes, friends, and a job that she’s got to do away from Steven, leaving him without anyone to laugh at him when he loses his pants or convince him that he needs to hose the mud off of himself at the car wash before Pearl flips- though all Pearl does is insist he use a human shower next time and never listen to Amethyst.

There’s a job vacancy for a new fun gal in Steven’s life, while Amethyst is busy. Luckily, a potential candidate is on his beach a week later.

“Who were you talking to?”

Pearl and Garnet are curled up on the windowseat, Garnet with her back to the wall, Pearl leaning against her chest, feet up on the rest of the cushions. Their cuddling is in a very specific part of the house, and Steven bets they sat down where they'd have a good view of him.

“Huh?” 

“That girl.”

“You saw?” Steven asks- his attempts to catch the attention of his maybe-new-friend had not gone well, and he finds himself going pink in the face, “She’s just a girl I know, except she doesn’t know me. We’ve never talked.”

Pearl seems overjoyed. Garnet has to stop her from planning tea parties and play dates, pulling her partner away and leaving Steven to his “funky flow”. They promise not to watch this time, at least.

He grabs the glow-bracelet from the fridge and his lucky shield from beside the door on his way out. If his tiger bell wasn’t enough to impress, he might need a little luck.

“Hi, my name is Steven. Hi... my name is Ste-ven. Hiii my name is...” the rumble above pulls Steven’s attention away from the girl on the beach to the rock tumbling down the cliff face toward her head, “Stev-an!”

He drops on top of her, throwing his hands over his head.

The rock, almost the size of his head and falling from a height, lands with a solid crack on the middle of his shield, which is strapped to his arm by hot pink elastic bands. Its descent was slowed considerably by the smaller rocks in its path, which also tumbled down, but the hit is still enough to break the thick plastic of the shield. The rose insignia in the center shatters, sending bits of translucent pink plastic along with the smaller rocks onto Steven’s legs and back.

Fortunately, the angle of the shield and the rock meant the two were only a glancing blow and the Steven’s-head-sized rock finds itself buried in the sand instead of either of the two children.

“Ow!”

Steven’s mind, which had mostly stopped after the loud noise next to his ear, switches back on. The first thing he notices is that his leg hurts; the second is that he is still on his potential friend. He rolls off of the girl, pulling his arms off his head. He eyes what is left of his shield desolately for a second before taking it off and turning all of his attention to her.

“Hello, my name is Steven,” he says, holding out a hand in greeting.

“Connie,” she replies, lifting her arm just a little to meet the shake; her other hand is wrapped around a spot on that arm and it’s only then that he realizes it’s bleeding, “thank you.”

“Oh no!” he says, “Are you okay? You’re bleeding!”

“I’m okay,” she assures him, “I just think that rock hit it a little. Could have been worse I guess.”

“I live right there!” he tells her, pointing to the house on the hill, “Pearl can bandage your arm! I bet the Spider-man or the Hello Kitty band-aids are too small, but she keeps some big ones too.”

Upon standing, Steven finds, rather peculiarly, that his leg does not want to work. It wobbles for a moment before he is suddenly on one knee, the spot that had hurt initially flaring back up.

His second try goes much better, but Connie seems a little hesitant about him walking up the hill on a leg that hurts.

“My mom says not to push injuries too much or they might get worse,” she warns him, “she’s a doctor so she knows what she’s talking about.”

“I trust mama Connie, even if I’ve never met her,” he says, “but band-aids for your arm and ice for my leg are up that hill.”

“Can your parents carry you?” Connie asks, “I could get them for you, if you want. You could wait here.”

“Garnet can carry anyone!” Steven says, proudly; he opts to ignore the ‘parents’ word- people are always calling Pearl and Garnet lots of different things that they aren’t.

Connie squints at him for a moment, before pointing to the house, “‘Garnet’ is there?”

Steven nods.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

She clutches her arm she walks up the steep hill towards the front door. Steven thinks his leg is okay, after all, but he doesn’t want to risk this new friendship by not trusting her advice already, so instead he sits and inches over to where the broken shield lays. Most of it is intact, but about a quarter has broken clean off and shards lay scattered around.

He holds up one of the shards, taking the glow bracelet out of his pocket and holding them together inside his fist, pressing his eye up against the hole in his fingers to see how they look. The bracelet shines through the plastic a little, but it’s thick enough to not do much. It looks a little cool, but a dark room would help.

Suddenly, a shadow falls over him, and the bracelet seems to glow a little brighter.

“This is what fell on you?”

“Yeah!” Steven says, leaning back onto Garnet’s knee as she crouches behind him, placing a hand on his head, “but I had my shield, so it wouldn’t hurt us! It did a little though I guess.”

Garnet’s grip on the top of his skull tightens; she says nothing for a moment.

“Very brave of you, Steven. Good job.” She lifts him easily, cradling him in her arms, “Please don’t play too close to this cliff anymore.”

“Okay, Garnet,”

“Just preparing you for what Pearl will say.”

Pearl, as it is, has a lot to say. Not much of it actually comes out.

“Connie here was telling me a boulder fell on you guys?” Pearl says, eyes wide as she turns to grab at him in Garnet’s arms, “Is your leg okay?”

“It’s fine,” Steven assures her, “I had my shield! ...It’s broken now though.”

“He was incredible!” Connie cuts in; her arm is bandaged and she is sitting happily on the counter, glass of water in hand, “It was going to land on me, but Steven pushed my head out of the way, and even blocked most of it with his cool pink shield!”

Steven cannot help the grin that breaks out over his face.

“Put me down, please Garnet,” he whispers, giving Pearl a reassuring pat on the hip as he limps slightly past.

He moves to climb onto the kitchen stools, finding himself aided by Pearl’s hands under his armpits. Once he is settled, he pulls out the glow-bracelet, along with the piece of pink plastic also in his pocket.

“It shattered?” Pearl says, “I thought you just meant it cracked!”

Garnet hands Steven the ice pack she’s made, slipping quickly out the door to clean up the mess before Pearl can find it and have a panic attack.

Steven explains the story behind the bracelet shyly, while Pearl has the sense to stay quiet and out of his sight. Connie laughs, staring down at her boots and telling him she remembers seeing him on the car wash float.

“Well this was certainly an exciting way to meet your new friend,” Pearl says, and Connie’s eyes light up as Steven’s shoot down to stare at the floor, “let’s have a little calmer of a playdate next time. No more playing under those rocks, for one.”

“Friend?” Connie says; Steven nods, a large grin on his face and a bright blush on his cheeks.

“What’s your favorite kind of tea, Connie?” Pearl asks.


	6. Tiger Millionaire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've opted to skip the events of Serious Steven. I might go back and write the ones I've skipped once i run out of episodes, but for now it goes to Tiger Millionaire. The wrestling mentioned within is not the theatrical chair-hitting kind, but rather the kind you might see people do in high school wrestling. Only this is an informal club team.  
> This chapter is a little longer. The length of these will vary.

Winter break sees Amethyst up at the house a lot. She can’t be home all the time, as she does still have to work, but she’s up often enough to get on Pearl’s nerves. At times, Steven’s not sure how they ever willingly lived together, but then they’ll get along so well he wishes she still lived with them all.

Unfortunately, a nice interaction in the morning does not last, and by the end of the day, Pearl’s so mad at Amethyst for pushing Steven in the ocean off a big rock, she forgets to see how Steven is after being pushed in the ocean off a big rock.

He feels fine, especially since Amethyst retrieved him right after, but the fight goes on, regardless.

“You could have really hurt Steven!” Pearl snaps, “There were other rocks there that he could have easily smacked his head on. You- you are just so *childish* sometimes!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Amethyst throws back, “And don’t forget: reckless, vulgar, loud-mouthed... and that’s just what makes me so awesome! Right, Garnet?!”

“Amethyst,” Garnet says, speaking up for the first time since Steven was fished out of the water, “you’re an adult. Act like one.”

“Fine,” Amethyst says, pushing past them both to head into her room, a stormy expression written all over her face.

“I think we really got through to her!” Pearl says, optimistically, but Garnet only groans in response, “Right, Garnet?”

Pearl takes a gentle hold of her partner’s arm, letting the taller woman lead her outside as she shakes off the bad feelings of the fight with cheerful chatter.

Steven pulls off his shirt and jeans, hanging them over the stools to dry while he makes himself some prepackaged dinner in the microwave.

He eats in his underwear, deciding that he’ll have a nice, warm bath once Pearl comes back to draw it for him. She always makes the best baths; Garnet’s are often too hot or cold and Amethyst has forgotten about one before, leading water to flood all over the floor. He can’t risk another fight forming, so Pearl it is.

 

They’ve not returned by the time he finishes his mac and cheese, so he settles down on the couch to play with MC Bear-Bear and his Pikachu plush.

\--

Steven wakes from the cold, aware of the soft blanket on his back and the fact that none of his clothes are on, aside from his underwear. He’s on the couch, so Garnet didn’t move him to his bed. Probably because he fell asleep way earlier than bedtime. The nap has stretched past his bedtime of 8:30, but the clock only reads 10:30, so Pearl and Garnet are likely still awake, ready to check on him and move him upstairs if he's still on the couch when they stop by.

He wonders if it’s too late at night for that bath.

The door by the kitchen swings open and Steven instantly pretends to fall back asleep, opening one eye just enough to keep an eye on things. Garnet and Pearl are extra sweet to asleep Steven. It’s unfortunate that he’s not usually awake for that.

His hopes that he’s about to be scooped up gently and softly whispered to as he’s moved up to his bed are dropped at the sight of the shorter, stouter resident slipping past.

Amethyst has her backpack on over her winter coat. She takes one last look at the door leading into the hallway before slipping out the front door quietly.

“Amethyst?” Steven whispers.

He quickly runs upstairs to dress, finding that the clothes he left hanging on the chairs are gone, before running out the front door after Amethyst.

\---

Where he follows her to is not exactly where he expects her to go. Steven loses sight of her as they near the building, but it’s the only one near, and the lights are on, so he’s sure that’s where she’s gone.

Steven wonders if this is where Garnet used to practice fighting, back before he was born. There’s a boxing ring set under the windows, only instead of anyone punching anyone else, Amethyst has Ronaldo in a headlock. Her long, dyed hair is braided and rolled up in a bun, and she’s got a mask pulled over her face, but it’s unmistakably her. At least to him. Mr Smiley announces her as “Purple Puma” as she releases the Fryman, and he’s using boy pronouns on her.

She lets her arm be lifted victoriously, before bowing at the jeering crowd and jumping over the ring’s edges. Steven keeps out of sight, following her outside.

“Amethyst!” he yells, excitedly, bounding over to put her in a headlock; he finds himself thrown off, landing on his back as she whirls around to face him.

“What are you doing here?” She asks, glancing frantically around for either of his guardians.

“Are you a secret wrestler?” He asks, sitting up and bouncing a little.

“Yeah,” she admits, smirking at him as she pulls the mask off her face, “out here, no-one can tell me what to do- and if they do, I have ‘em pinned in a second flat!”

“And people like that?”

Amethyst shrugs, “depends on who they’re rooting for. Can’t help it if I’m the best.”

“Garnet was the best too!” Steven says, “Ooh, we gotta tell her, she’ll think this is so cool!”

“Woah,” Amethyst says, grabbing Steven firmly by the shoulders, “we are not telling either of them anything. It’s not like Garnet fights anymore.”

“Yeah but just ‘cause she can’t.” Steven points out, gesturing at the general area around his eye.

“Pearl’s all weird about it,” Amethyst grumbles, “I bet Garnet just goes along with it, since Pearl says so. Like earlier today.”

Steven doesn’t know what to say to that. He thinks Garnet was mad at Amethyst independent of Pearl, judging by her yell when he was pushed, and how she was about to be in the water to grab him if Amethyst hadn’t done so first. That doesn’t seem like anything she wants to hear, however, so instead, he agrees that Pearl and Garnet can react strongly to things.

His impersonations of them both have Amethyst laughing, but unfortunately, his idea to wrestle too has her laughing harder.

“You can’t fight, you’re just a kid!”

“Kids join wrestling,” Steven says, “Come on, I gotta make up for the teacups...”

“Yeah, but proper little matches at school. This isn’t as regulated as it’s supposed to be. I mean, I had to pay a fee to get covered, so there must be something legal to it, but there’s no way they’d let you join.” she refrains from adding that she wouldn’t let him anyway, not wanting to sound too much like either of the women she was just complaining about, but he can tell she’s thinking it.

“...Can I be your cheerleader, then?”

\---

For the next couple weeks, Steven sneaks out with Amethyst. Despite his complaining back to fit in with Amethyst, neither Pearl or Garnet aren’t usually too overbearing. They trust him enough that they don’t realize he’s sneaking out in the middle of the night.

He feels bad about that, but not enough to give up the fun that is cheering Amethyst on in matching cat attire. He takes the guise of Tiger Millionaire, and tries to stay discreet enough that no one will bust him to his guardians, though he thinks Sadie has noticed.

Amethyst spends the next couple of weeks reveling in the spotlight on the nights they play and hiding the occasional bruise from view during the day.

It’s fun, until one night. Then, Steven’s sure it’s very much not going to be fun.

“Steven!”

Mr Smiley pauses in his announcing of next match at the sound of the concerned shout from the front door.

“Uh, oh,” Amethyst groans, dropping her arms and stepping away from her next ‘victim’.

Pearl darts over, hopping up onto the outside of the ring, where Steven is perched, clutching the bands that run around it. She wraps him in a tight hug, turning her head to glare at the masked figure in the ring.

“What the-” she steps away from him, sliding between two bands to get closer to Amethyst for the rest of her sentence, though Steven can still hear her; everyone has gone silent, “hell were you thinking, taking my- taking Steven out here, to this, this fight?”

“I dunno,” Amethyst challenges, “which part of this do you have a problem with, huh? Because I’m thinking it’s me.”

“You? Of course you think this is about you! Not about how you snuck a child out of bed in the middle of the night? He wasn’t in his room! I thought something had happened to him until I found this!” Pearl sticks a rumpled drawing of Purple Puma and Tiger Millionaire in Amethyst’s face, before continuing her rant, “or maybe because this is reckless and dangerous and you could get hurt?! I can’t believe you’ve been sneaking off to this... this circus of violence!”

“Bullshit!” Amethyst hisses back, to which Pearl gasps and glances to Steven, “Garnet used to kickbox and you’re practically married to her! I can’t even do this?”

“Garnet got hurt!” Pearl says back; she has the care to do it quietly, but Steven can see Garnet looking embarrassed behind her. The whole room is silent, save for them, so it’s safe to assume some people, if not most, heard it anyway.

Amethyst is getting more obviously agitated by the second. She’s pulled the mask off her face, where it now sits clenched tightly in her fists. She bobs slightly as she shifts her weight from foot to foot.

“I’m not here to fight with you, Amethyst.” Pearl says.

She means it in the vocal sense, but a brave teen in the crowd yells, “fight!” which is echoed back by a couple others.

“Tha’s enough,” Garnet interrupts, stepping past Pearl, “Amethyst, let’s go.”

“I don’t wanna!” she snaps, lunging forward to give Garnet a hefty shove.

She probably wouldn’t have ever done the same to Pearl, but something about Garnet’s size and strength has Amethyst confident enough that she won’t hurt the other woman and angry enough that she’s being pushed around by someone she knows she’d lose to.

Garnet merely steps back, telling Amethyst to stop. Amethyst does nothing of the sort, stepping in to hit again. Garnet deflects her arms, stepping around to grab her from behind and hold her there.

“Stop it, guys!” Steven yells.

Garnet’s hold, never hard enough to hurt Amethyst in the first place, loosens at this. Amethyst wriggles out, too conscious of all of the people in the room to calm down.

“Wait! I want to tell you Purple Puma's backstory. He was the wildest cat in the jungle, so wild, the others cats couldn't take it. So she, I mean he, went to look for somewhere he fit in, somewhere with other people who felt misunderstood.” Steven says, the mic cutting in to take everyone’s attention momentarily away from the short girl attempting to fight the tall, muscular woman, “That's why we're all here. To be wild and free, and body slam each other, and wear cool costumes, and make up nicknames and uh... so can't we just have this? Can't we just wrestle?”

“No,” Garnet says; she receives an audible gasp in response.

Pearl looks from each one of her family members to the other, waiting for a progression, to hesitant to cause anything else.

“Well I’m well out of your weight class,” Garnet says, nudging her glasses closer onto her face. She’d had them loose, so if Amethyst took a swing, she could quickly remove them; the situation seems calmer, now however, and Garnet relaxes.

“We don’t really do weight classes here,” Amethyst shrugs.

“Yes, this seems unsafe,” Pearl decides, climbing back over and picking Steven off the side, “I’m going home. You two can talk... and whomever.”

She gives a glare across the crowd, taking the reluctant Steven out the main doors.

They’re followed by Garnet and Amethyst, who seemed reluctant to be the center of attention in such a manner for any longer. Pearl continues to walk down the hill, putting Steven down and pulling him along by his hand.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Amethyst says, undoing her bun and letting her braid tumble down her back.

“Me too. We clearly upset you.”

“I just-” Amethyst shrugs, “Pearl seems like she’s more mad at me all the time. It used to be good, you know? Now she’s snippy- she doesn’t see me as an equal- and then you start agreeing with her on stuff I know you don’t think-”

“What part?” Garnet asks, “because I only agree when I want to. Pearl and I are adults,” Amethyst cringes at the word, the fight from a couple weeks ago coming back to her, “we don’t have to agree on everything to not fight. Sometimes we compromise.”

“Did you compromise on letting her insult you and your fighting?” Amethyst throws back.

Garnet’s glasses glint in the light coming out of the windows, obscuring any view of her eyes Amethyst could have had. She says nothing for a few odd moments.

“Pearl has always been supportive,” Garnet says, “she came to all of my matches.”

“So did I,” Amethyst huffs, “I thought it was so cool, but then I couldn’t even talk to you about it later because Pearl would always shut me down.”

“And then she came to the hospital when I got hit so hard I couldn’t see out of one eye for a little while,” Garnet continues, “and then she lived with me for ten years while I adjusted to the fact that it still bothers me. While I’m not sure she’s always right in how she deals with things, she means well. If I had any real problem, I would have communicated it. Which is what you should have done.”

“Sorry,”

“That’s alright,” Garnet says, “...Pearl’s not here, if you want to tell me how cool my kickboxing was.”

“Your kickboxing was so cool!” Amethyst laughs, “I always wanted to learn, but I’m a bit small... Can’t ever really stop anyone from pushing me around if they want.”

“Well I could teach you, if you wanted,” Garnet says, “Surely some self defense. Maybe some offense. For fun and exercise, of course. Nothing dangerous.”

“Of course,” Amethyst grins, “...thanks, Garnet.””

“Hmh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who commented so far! I really appreciate it.  
> These will have overarching themes, as is done in the show, though although the outcome and tone will be the same, what the plotline of the themes are will probably differ. I hope you guys are enjoying the conversion to real life stuff alright.


	7. Steven's Dog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while since I've updated! I hope to get into the habit of writing again.

“Steven, you’ll be less tired if you just walk,” Pearl says; she lets go of Garnets arm, gesturing towards the shop, “why don’t you stay out here with him. I’ll just be a minute.”

Steven shifts his fingers farther into the cold sand, finding them to provide little grip as he drags and wriggles himself along the beach. He can feel the little grains slipping under his sleeves; he just knows when he gets home it’s going to be one of those showers where sand ends up covering the tub- those are fun.

Garnet nudges him with her toe, prompting him to get up.

“But, I’m thirsty,” he says, “and this is how you act in the desert.”

“We’re not in the desert,” Garnet says, grabbing him firmly by his coat and plopping him back onto his feet, “bu’ I can get you a drink. You can stay out here, if you want.”

“What if I get eaten by something?” Steven asks, resting his head against Garnet’s hip, “Like a sea lion? Or a killer whale?”

“Don’t go in the water- it’s too cold anyway,” Garnet laughs, “Nothing can hurt you out here, little boy. Now let me go before Pearl has a chance to pay. I’ll be quick.”

Steven sits back on the sand, pondering deserts. What is the difference, he wonders, if you cannot drink the sea water anyway? Pearl told him some deserts were seas once. The glittering ocean lays before him, stretching beyond his sight over the horizon. He can’t imagine that much water going anywhere.

His gaze shifts towards the shop. They’re both still in there. Garnet’s got his drink in one hand and Pearl’s hand in the other. Pearl’s holding nothing but Garnet’s hand in both of hers. It might be a while. 

Steven pulls his hat over his eyes, dropping down onto his belly to imagine the desert again. It’s a bit colder than he thinks a desert should be during the day, so he’ll have to pretend it’s night. He imagines that the sloshing of the ocean is only his thirsty imagination, stranded so far without anything to drink. Nothing in the desert but him for miles and miles-

Something touches his head.

Steven jerks away from the touch, pulling his hat off to see if Garnet has returned with his lemon-lime Gatorade.

Instead, what he finds is a large beast- with a big set of teeth.

“Ah!” Steven yelps, startled, “don’t bite!”

Steven twists around, inching backwards to get away from the massive animal towering over him. It follows, dipping its head towards his face, ready to bite it at any moment...

Steven cracks an eye open. The dog cocks its head, closing its mouth. Its expression before wasn’t bared teeth, but the lack of a tongue lolling happily out gave Steven pause. Now, it just looks like a big fluffy cloud. He can’t be sure why he was ever scared. 

“Hello!” he says, “You’re not here to hurt me, are you?”

“No,” Steven cooes back at himself, “I just want love!”

“Well that’s great!” Steven says, hopping onto his feet to wrap his arms around the great mane of fur around the dog’s neck, “I got a lotta love to give!”

The beast sits; it doesn’t seem to care that there is a child crawling on its back.

“You’re kinda dirty, aren’t you, buddy?” Steven says, pulling away from the dull white fur to find that there’s smudges of mud on his jacket.

He flinches back as the dog’s teeth bare, but instead of snapping at him, it twists until it can bite at its hindquarters, chewing at the matted fur there. 

The soft jingle of the door in the distance announces the presence of Pearl and Garnet. Garnet is carrying all of the groceries in the three bags, held in one fist; she’s still got Pearl’s hand in her other.

“Quick!” Steven says,climbing off and grabbing the dog’s muzzle gently as it turns its head towards him once again, “Pearl and Garnet are back- put my head in your mouth!”

“Steven!” Pearl yells, “What are you doing? Get your hands out of that filthy animal’s mouth before it bites you!”

He pulls his wet fingers away from the dog’s teeth. It wasn’t opening up anyway.

“Look! He’s my new friend!” Steven says, “His name is... Lion! He’s huge and he has this big mane around his neck.”

“He’s filthy,” Pearl says, “You cannot keep that thing; it’s crawling with fleas.”

Steven scratches the funny itch at his wrist, peering up at Pearl through squinted eyes.

“Fleas?”

“Oh, come on,” she sighs, “you need to shower immediately.”

“We’re making a bonfire for those clothes,” Garnet adds.

“We can’t leave him here!” Steven argues, “Aren’t you supposed to love animals, Pearl? You’re a vegetarian!”

“Mhm,” she says, glancing towards Garnet, “It’s a Tibetan Mastiff...”

“It’s huge,” Garnet agrees.

“And fierce,” Pearl corrects, “I’m worried it’ll bite him. These things fight wolves... It’s also not supposed to get dirty very easily. There might be something wrong with this one.”

“I think the water stuck the dirt to its fur,” Garnet points out; it has been raining. 

“Awh, poor baby must have been cold!”

Steven notes the massive fur.

“Poor baby might have been hot?”

Pearl hands him his drink, shooing him forwards with a gentle push to his back.

“Let’s get you in the shower, Steven. We can come back to give the dog some food later.”

“And then we can keep him?” Steven pleads, spinning back to wave goodbye to his new pal.

The dog’s gone.

“I don’t know about that...” Garnet says, eyeing the scratching Steven, “but I think you should ride home on the roof of the car.”

“Garnet,” Steven giggles.

“Like a Christmas tree,” Pearl adds, nodding at Garnet as if it is an idea they are seriously considering. 

\---

Amethyst is back from the part-time job she got over the break when he gets home, but he’s shooed into the tub without a hug. After a thorough check by Pearl, he is permitted to go near everything and everyone again. When he returns for his hug, he finds the snoozing college student underneath the fort they built yesterday. Amethyst is still in her work uniform- her striped, collared shirt is a bit wrinkled and the brim of her hat is pulled down over her eyes. She refuses to wake when he nudges her, mumbling about her exhaustion.

The sound of scratching at the door pulls his attention away.

His exclamation of joy is not enough to stir Amethyst either.

“You found me!” Steven squeals, running up to the screen door, through which he can see Lion. He’s still looking filthy, which means Pearl won’t be pleased, but Steven doesn’t mind taking another bath if it means he can play with the dog for a little while longer.

“Okay, catch this one!” Steven yells, throwing the tennis ball with all his might past the large canine. 

Lion turns, but aims for a spot on his hind leg instead of finding the ball.

“You’re really bad at this,” Steven pouts, “if only I had more time to teach you how to be a dog. I bet Pearl would like you if you were clean...”

He knows Amethyst won’t wake to give him suggestions on how to sway Pearl, but the thought of her sparks the memory of her solution for his own muddy self. Pearl had not actually been happy with Greg hosing him down instead of just using the shower, but Steven thinks that since the dog is not allowed inside, then his dad is his best bet.

To Steven’s delight, Lion follows him the whole way to the carwash. They talk on the walk there. It’s pretty one-sided, but Steven thinks he can guess what Lion is thinking anyway. A lot of thoughts seem to be that he’s itchy- the walk takes longer thanks to many occasions of Lion sitting to bite at his fur. Steven thinks cleaning Lion is probably a good idea even if they can’t keep him. 

\--

“Pearl! Pearrrll! Garnet!”

The yells sound more excited than anxious, so Pearl stretches lazily towards the remote to pause the television. Garnet’s arm doesn’t move from around her waist, and with her visor still on, Pearl has a difficult time telling whether she is awake.

“Yes, Steven?” she replies, dropping her head back onto Garnet’s shoulder as Steven appears at the door.

“Come look!”

Garnet lets out a long breath, moving her feet off of the bed at his excited gesturing. Pearl trails along behind her, ready to see what new, bigger, messier fort Steven and Amethyst must have built in their living room. Instead, she finds Greg Universe attempting to shoo a fluffy white beast off of the remains of their old fort, Amethyst laughing happily on the sidelines.

“Awh guys,” Steven says, glancing anxiously at Garnet and Pearl, “you were supposed to keep him outside!”

“He ran in on his own,” Greg says, sheepishly, “and Amethyst is being no help.”

“Is that the dog from earlier?” Pearl gasps- it’s not only less visibly grimy, it’s coat looks genuinely nice. 

“He found me because he loves me!”

Garnet crouches next to the animal, brushing fingers softly through its fur to inspect for any more bugs.

“Dad and I washed him with flea soap a bunch of times!” Steven says proudly, “I felt really bad because it’s so cold out, but we dried him off really well and brushed him and everything. Doesn’t he look pretty?”

“We should take him to the vet to make sure they’re all gone,” Garnet suggests.

“We should make sure he’s tame... Is it a he?”

“Oh, it’s a he.” Greg confirms.

“Another reason to go to the vet, then...” Pearl sighs, “and for his shots of course...”

“Does that mean we can keep him?”

“Maybe,” she says, “but I need to hear some things from the vet first. Also, if we do- if- he needs to be potty trained and sleep outside when weather permits.”

“We can build him a dog house!” Steven chirps, hopping to his feet and hopping over to Pearl to envelop her in a tight hug.

“I really hope you cleaned that dog properly,” she sighs, nudging herself out of his grip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are good motivation, but no pressure! :)


	8. Arcade Mania

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Steven Bomb, everybody!

“Merry Christmas,”

Pearl’s been up, before anyone else as always, but now that Steven’s awake, he seems ready to start their Christmas morning. Garnet has apparently been roused by the excited child- her large frame fills the doorway leading to the hallway from the living room.

She waits expectantly under the mistletoe, while Steven drags a groggy Amethyst to sit under their Christmas tree. The plastic evergreen is topped with a Popsicle sticks and glitter Star of David, and wound around with tinsel, lights, and a combination of nice ornaments and handmade ones. Steven is Jewish, which they take care to recognize during the major holidays- though Greg tends to handle those instead- but the rest of them celebrate Christmas. It’s more out of habit and sentiment than religion, though.

“Merry Christmas,” Pearl echoes, stretching to press a soft kiss to Garnet’s mouth.

Garnet’s grip slides down from Pearl’s elbow to her hand after a moment, and they walk together to sit next to Steven by the tree. Amethyst is rubbing the sleep from her eyes, but looks to be a bit excited by the prospect of gifts. Steven looks more excited, fingers grazing over the two gifts under the tree with his name penned neatly on it.

He gets presents from Greg during Hanukkah, but also on Christmas from the three of them, so he feels included in the holiday. Pearl and Garnet sit on their designated pillows, waiting for Steven to open his presents.

“Can I go first?” he asks, hopefully, eyeing the big box.

At their confirmation, Steven tears away the wrapping at the corners so the paper slides off easily.

He gasps with delight at the guitar and drums game controllers it reveals.

“Thank you!” he cooes, grabbing at the smaller box and unwrapping it more quickly to find three used games stacked inside, “thank youuuu!”

He looks over the games more closely. There’s a racing game, an adventure game, and a music game to match the instrument-controllers. None are violent, which means Pearl probably had at least some say in the decision, and the music game in particular is themed to his interest- it’s a sweet gift.

Lion pads over from his spot by the door to sniff at Steven, roused by the boy’s excitement. Steven gives his ears a gentle ruffle, showing the dog his new items happily.

After a moment, he gets the pooch to sit so they can continue with the gift exchange.

Steven lets Amethyst go next, though he places the three gifts he’s made for the others on top of his lap.  
Her gift from Pearl and Garnet is an envelope. She receives the contents, a slip of paper, with raised eyebrows.

“You usually just return my gifts anyway,” Pearl says, “You’ve been working a lot lately- this way you can just buy what you would like.”

“Thanks; really,” Amethyst says, gesturing to the present by their feet, “don’t get excited.”

They seem excited, anyway, for the few large mugs- Garnet and Pearl drink a little too much coffee and tea.

The three of them appreciate Steven’s handmade gifts of drawings and glued together art. For Lion, Steven’s got a rope chew toy that Greg let him buy. He takes it back to his spot by the door, gnawing away at the red material.

Pearl and Garnet exchange things for each other as well. Pearl gets some comfortable pajamas, a soft turtleneck, and a pair of earrings, and Garnet receives some nice clothes and music.

Amethyst saves her gift to Steven for last; Pearl’s smile suggests she knows what it is.

“It’s hard to wrap,” she says, running off to her room with instructions for the boy to close his eyes.

Steven does as he’s told, waiting for Amethyst’s, “tah dah!” to open them back up.

A smile lights up his face at the pink shield before his eyes.

“You fixed it?”

“Nah,” Amethyst laughs, “they stopped making them, but some website had a bunch of old toys on clearance- such as this.”

“Thank you, thank you!” Steven says, moving his shield-equipped arm around Amethyst’s waist. He trots over to Pearl and Garnet next, sitting heavily on the larger woman’s lap to pull them both in for a hug.

Pearl returns it, pulling away after a moment to make breakfast for them all. Steven requests pancakes, so she starts on the batter while Garnet gets out all the supplies for the stove.

Steven and Amethyst eat while Garnet cooks them, Pearl waiting patiently by her partner’s side so she has company while she makes their pancakes.  
After a little while, everyone retreats to their own corners. Steven plays the racing game for a while with Amethyst, and even convinces Pearl to have a go when she comes by to give him lunch.

He’s excited to play the music game, which they switch to after a little while, but Steven holds out hope that Garnet will come play like she promised. Amethyst hits the drums a little too hard- he can hear rhythmic tapping alongside him to the beat of the music playing on the screen. Steven just hopes she’s not breaking them. He’s found medium to be quite easily manageable, so he’s bumped up his guitar setting to hard for a bit of a challenge.

Eventually, Amethyst gets bored of playing, so Steven switches to his third game, an RPG style adventure with monsters trapped underground.  
He’s gotten quite into it, sparing all of the creatures he finds and eventually coming upon a dead tree at the front of a house, when Garnet appears at the stairs to his loft. Knowing he may miss his chance, Steven moves his character over to the starry save point, closing his game to replace it with the musical one.

She allows him to keep his guitar, taking over Amethyst’s drums. Garnet keeps Amethyst’s easy setting for the first song, drumming away a little more softly and precisely than she had done and ultimately earning a perfect score on the easy song they’d selected.

Steven bumps them up to a harder song, one that he doesn’t recognize, but Garnet apparently does, as Garnet bumps herself up to the medium setting. Her score isn’t perfect, but it’s good, and after many more songs, she’s gotten 100% enough times that she moves herself up a level to hard, the second most difficult mode.  
It’s at this point that Pearl comes by, hair slightly damp and droopy, clad in her brand new pajamas.

“Steven,” she admonishes, as Garnet starts another game, “you have been playing those all day- take a break. Go to bed.”

He’s trying to play with his head turned Pearl, looking at the screen from the corner of his eye, but he’s doing terribly and Pearl looks a little peeved. Instead, he drops his controller from the round, moving behind Garnet to get to his dresser and put his pajamas on.

“Pearl,” Garnet says, after the song ends and Steven has started to head downstairs to brush his teeth, “I bet, because it’s Christmas, Steven would like to sleep in our room tonight.”

He pauses, turning back excitedly.

“Can I?”

Pearl eyes Garnet suspiciously, who has started another song without waiting for her reply; Steven looks excited, however, so she caves, shrugging her shoulders and following him down the steps.

\---

Steven wakes to an arm flung over his stomach. It disappears a moment later as Pearl groggily confirms that Garnet isn’t in the empty space next to Steven. He cracks an eye open to see her slide out of bed, eyes still screwed shut, and walk out of the room.

Pearl’s spot at the right end, as well as his own in the middle, are warm; Garnet’s side is cool to the touch. A picture jumps to his mind of big Garnet in his little bed. Steven would like to see that.

What he sees instead- and hears- is Garnet still playing his video game, at 3 in the morning. Pearl, stood at the top step, turns her head towards Steven, a puzzled expression on her face.

“Garnet?” she says, in that false neutral voice she uses when she’s about to go off.

“Hm?”

“Why are you playing this still?”

She doesn’t immediately respond, still fixated on hitting all the notes medium song on extra hard guitar mode. Steven’s pleased to see she’s really progressed in the hours he’s been asleep.

“Garnet,” Pearl says, too tired to be having this conversation, but refusing to go back to bed while Garnet is acting so strangely; she sounds a little tense.

“It’s fun,” Garnet replies.

Pearl steps in front of the screen halfway. Garnet leans heavily to the side, still trying to hit the drums with precision.

“Garnet, why don’t you come to bed.”

Steven doesn’t really want to see them fight, so he decides that Garnet should pay better attention before Pearl makes her. He steps past them both to the wall, grabbing the cord by its end and pulling it out of the wall.

Garnet’s shoulders fall as the screen goes black, and her head snaps to look at Steven. She looks ticked, from what he can see of her face, for just a moment. She seems to realize it’s late at this point, however, with a look at Pearl in her gifted pajamas, hair tousled from sleep.

“Okay,”

Pearl crouches, sliding Garnet’s visor off and folding it.

Garnet closes her bad eye out of habit more than anything, but opens it after realizing there is far too little light in the room to even aggravate it. Garnet stands, taking her glasses and padding down the stairs after Pearl. Steven follows, squeezing between them in the bed. He inches down a little so Garnet’s springy hair doesn’t tickle his face while he sleeps.

He kind of wishes he could get up and go back to playing Undertale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in the middle of writing Giant Woman rn. It's pretty lengthy.  
> Comments are fab, but no pressure.


	9. Giant Woman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Giant Woman adaptation! I was excited to write this one, since I had a clear idea of where I wanted it to go, but then it changed itself up on me while I was writing. I think I like the result better.

Amethyst spreads her arms wide, ready for Steven to drop the volley of water balloons. They’re nice and full, so only one of the five glances painfully off of her head to burst at her feet- the rest explode upon impact, drenching her. 

Pearl leans back from the droplets, wringing out her wet hair. Amethyst is honestly a bit surprised that Pearl agreed to get in on water checkers. It seems so unlike her; Amethyst, on the other hand, loves the feeling of the warm water balloons, though she can feel the chill quickly reaffirming itself. 

“Ah, feels so good to lose.”

“I certainly hope that’s not the attitude you’re taking at college,” Pearl admonishes, wrapping the towel Steven brought out for them tighter around her. 

“Ugh, you’re no fun anymore,” Amethyst huffs, “this is why we don’t hang out anymore.”

“We don’t hang out as much because you’re always acting difficult-” Pearl pauses as a shudder runs through her spine from the cold, “and a mess... I’m going to take a bath.”

“We don’t hang out because you’re uptight and-!” 

“Amethyst!” Steven interrupts, before she can chase Pearl into the bathroom to continue the fight, “you were getting along great the other day- and at Christmas!” 

“Yeah, but then she gets all prissy and pissy-” Amethyst glances to Steven, “uh, don’t repeat that last thing.”

Steven nods. When Amethyst says words Pearl and Garnet don’t, they’re usually not things he’s allowed to say. 

He’s seen them fight before, which is often Amethyst’s fault, but it hasn’t escaped his notice that it’s usually only Pearl who fights with her; Garnet rarely seems to mind enough to say anything, especially when it’s Amethyst just having fun. 

Steven sighs, following Amethyst into the house. He refuses to pick a side, so he’ll just have to convince them both to get along. 

\--

Amethyst doesn’t really want to talk when they get in. She goes off to her room, so Steven decides he’ll talk to Pearl.

True to her word, Pearl is in the bath when he gets to her room. He knocks, waiting for her soft reply before cracking the door open. Her bath is bubbly, and she’s got her back to him. Pearl turns her head in his direction as he enters, inquiring what it is he wants to talk about.

Pearl’s bath times are a nice time for her, so Steven thinks he shouldn’t get her riled up again. It can wait.

“How is your bath?” 

“It’s a bit hot...” Pearl says, “Garnet thinks I’m much tougher than I am.”

Steven giggles as he hears the familiar footsteps stop behind him.

“Pearl can’t do lava baths either, Garnet,” Steven says, familiar with Garnet’s poor bath drawing skills- they’re never the right temperature, “that’s just you.”

“I’m trying to cook her,” Garnet deadpans, “so I can eat her later.”

Steven giggles at Garnet’s silliness and Pearl sinks almost completely into the bubbles, muttering her partner’s name a little scoldingly. 

“Okay, Steven,” Pearl says, “if nothing important is going on, I would like to take my bath.”

Steven spots Garnet slipping into the bathroom as he rounds the corner, shutting the door behind her. At least with the door closed, Amethyst and Pearl can’t start fighting again.

\---

Eventually, the fight kicks back up. Garnet’s at work, which eventually puts the two of them together without her calming presence to detect stormy seas and rectify the situation by butting herself into the conversation and changing the topic. 

It all starts when Pearl makes somewhat of an unintentionally snide comment to Amethyst about Garnet teaching her to fight. As it starts out, it’s all about self-defense and exercise, but Pearl and Steven both know Amethyst is doing it because she likes to hit things. Garnet holds the boxing pads, gently correcting Amethyst’s sloppy, form.

Pearl must have seen enough of Garnet trying to mold Amethyst’s angry swings into a more calm and purposeful fighting style to decide to share her own opinion on it, but the second the words come out of her mouth, she seems to realize her mistake.

“You think I’m too angry?” Amethyst snaps, “Any reason that might be?”

“You’re not supposed to hit things when you’re angry,” Pearl defends, “it’s a bad idea. Garnet’s trying to teach you because you wanted to learn, not because you just wanted a punching bag.”

“It’s just because you don’t like fighting, huh?”

Pearl shrugs theatrically at this, before defending herself- she never had a problem with Garnet fighting until she had good reason to discourage her from doing so again. Amethyst shouldn’t keep pushing points she doesn’t know about. 

Steven watches quietly, trying to build up enough information to help them communicate through their issues.

Communication point one: Pearl thinks Garnet doesn’t like to talk about kickboxing much, which is partially true. Amethyst thinks Pearl is stopping Garnet from talking about kickboxing, which is probably also partially true. Steven surmises the truth is that neither of them are really fighting about Garnet anyway. 

Communication point two: Pearl thinks that if Amethyst was learning to fight for the exercise, then dancing would work just as well. Amethyst seems to think this is ridiculous, but mostly, Steven thinks Pearl is right about that not being her reasoning. Steven’s not sure why Amethyst is doing it.

Communication point three: the conversation shifts into personal jabs that have less to do with why they are fighting than whatever made-up reasons they were fighting for before.

Steven thinks he may as well jump in now.

“Guys,” he says, catching their attention, “can you please just try to get along?”

He tries to think fast of what to say before they can launch back into fighting. His dad once told him that sometimes you have to be the bigger man, which is a policy neither of them are following, at the moment.

“You have to be the bigger woman here,” Steven says, but that doesn’t help.

Amethyst reaches above her head, to show who that should be.

“Well there’s many ways of measuring that,” Pearl mutters, “height’s not all.”

“Is that a go?” Amethyst hisses, “you’re older.”

“Yes, which is why you should listen to me,”

“Woah!” Steven says; if it was literal, Garnet would beat them all at being the most giant woman, but he know’s it’s their turn.

“How about,” he continues, “you guys do something fun together? I don’t know what you used to do when you lived together without Garnet or me, but I bet it was nice if you’re still friends.”

At least, he notes, neither is mad enough at the moment to deny that point. 

“Why don’t you try to see if dancing is as hard as boxing?” Steven suggests, “and then maybe Pearl will do something with you that you want her to do with you?”

They sit in silence for a moment, Pearl looking over at Amethyst. She’s clearly giving her the choice.

“Fine,” Amethyst says, more than a little snark in her voice, “why do you think that dancing is equivalent to fighting in any way?”

Pearl grins, holding her fists out in front of her, as if she’s going to block a punch. 

“Does Garnet make you hold your arms up like this the whole time?” Pearl says, moving her arms out like an airplane after  Amethyst’s nod, “it’s hard after a while, isn’t it? Part of why boxing is so tiring is because that is such a strain- straight out like this is even worse,” she moves her arms above her head, shifting onto her toes out of habit, “and straight up is exhausting as well.” 

Steven can see the curve of Pearl’s arm muscles as she goes through the steps- they aren’t large like Garnet’s, but sleek and clearly defined. Her calves and quads tighten into a sharper edge as well as Pearl moves onto her toes. From what he can tell, it must be difficult. Amethyst seems to be able to tell, also.

Steven climbs down from the stool, finding some music to put on as Pearl explains more of her love of dance. He’s heard some of it before, which means Amethyst has too, but she listens, for now. 

She and Garnet have done a little of each other’s sport before, just to teach the other how it goes. Pearl claims that they’re more similar than they initially appear.

“Maybe,” she suggests, “you could find your own thing.”

“That could be fighting,” Amethyst counters.

“Maybe,” Pearl sighs.

The music comes on a little louder than intended, and Steven slowly lowers the volume to a good height. Pearl steps to one side, repeating her pose from a moment ago, letting the soft musical sounds fill her mind as she waits for Amethyst to begin.

Amethyst filters out the soft sounds as Pearl had filtered out the drums. She focuses on the beat. They dance in their own styles and meet somewhere in the middle in a bad way. 

“So, you wanna try that again?” Amethyst mutters, “Maybe with a little less you hitting me in the face this time?”

“Well, it would have worked out if your movements weren’t so erratic and formless.”

“So it’s all my fault?” Amethyst said, and Steven feels his lifted spirits falling, “You didn’t even try to sync with my dancing- you should know how I dance by now.”

“We aren’t dancing like you dance,” Pearl points out, “if you want to dance like you dance, than that can be the activity that you choose to do next.” 

Amethyst keeps her mouth shut at this. She seems to see the logic alright.

“Then teach me,” she mutters, “I dunno ballet...”

It’s not a proper lesson by any means, but it goes more smoothly after that. Pearl teaches Amethyst the steps, forgoing throwing her into the deep end this time. Amethyst cannot do them all, but Pearl is patient and holds back on being nitpicky until they can work together enough for a successful dance. 

Amethyst seems a little embarrassed about doing ballet, but she follows Pearl’s steps and smiles triumphantly when they are done.

“All right,” Pearl says, “what’s your thing?”

Amethyst smirks, “it’s time to put your money where your mouth is, Pearl.”

\----

The height is a bit of a problem, with neither Steven nor Amethyst tall enough to hold the pads for Pearl, and neither strong enough to have the other on their shoulders. 

Amethyst ends up climbing onto a rock, bracing her weight forward and holding the pads strong. They’ve got a punching bag hung up too, but Amethyst wants to feel for herself if Pearl knows how to hit.

Pearl shifts her shoulders, placing a foot back and fists up.

“I don’t really think it’s very good for you to hit with your bare hands,” she says, but throws the punch anyway.

It’s much harder than Amethyst expects, delivered with good form and a lot of power. She steps backwards to compensate, forgetting for a moment that she’s stood on a rock, and finds herself falling backwards onto the sand. 

“Are you alright?” Pearl asks, darting around the stone to crouch next to Amethyst.

“Just great,” Amethyst laughs, “nice hit!”

“You should see her kicks, too.”

They look up at the shadow that falls over them. 

“They were fighting, but I got them to hang out and do sports together!” Steven says, proudly.

“Good job, Steven,” Garnet says, “I bet you’d be great at them, too- Pearl and I can teach you sometime.”

Pearl stands as Amethyst tosses the pad up to Garnet.

Garnet holds it up near her face, at a height taller than Pearl even is, both hands behind the pad for support. Pearl twists, kicking a foot up to deliver a solid diagonal kick to the middle of the pad. 

Steven can tell she wasn’t joking when she was comparing her dancing with Garnet’s kickboxing. There was a lot of flexibility and strength involved in the kick that Steven knows she got from ballet.

Garnet moves the pad in front of her face, holding it horizontally in front of her jaw with one hand. Pearl kicks straight up this time, with an even harder blow than the last, a blow that might well knock someone out if she were fighting for real.

Garnet tosses the pad onto the sand by their punching bag, giving Pearl a proper kiss hello.

“When did you learn all that?” Amethyst asks, puzzled- Pearl’s never seemed to like fighting much, but she seems to know how.

“Like I said, I learned from Garnet. We used to help each other practice; Garnet’s a great dancer,” Pearl says, giving Garnet’s hand a squeeze, “they both require good form and balance, as well as strength and persistence. It was certainly beneficial to us both to learn a little of the other’s. Plus, it was kind of romantic.”

Garnet’s mouth twitches in a smile.

Amethyst watches them go inside, wondering if Pearl might have been right about her needing to find something. Pearl can dance and Garnet can fight. Amethyst could do a bit of both if she wanted to, just like they can of each other’s, but she doesn’t really have any special skills at the moment. She can’t even hit as well as Pearl.

Amethyst punches the bag with all her might, watching as it barely seems to twitch away from her, before following them in for dinner. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still getting back into the swing of writing, so if anything reads oddly, constructive criticism is allowed. Next up is Too Many Birthdays, which I don't have current plans for- or if I do, they're in my notebook back at my dorm and I won't be seeing them. Hopefully I can write it tomorrow.  
> Comments are nice motivation, if you have a moment.


	10. Pearl's Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait; here's the next chapter!

Pearl looks rather small surrounded by Steven’s celebrations. Garnet thinks it is her posture- shoulders slumped inwards and hands tucked between bent knees- that gives the appearance, despite her being swathed in a child’s cape. The crown is tilted over her head a little, and she sits absolutely still so it doesn’t slide off onto her lap.

It’s a funny sight, which Garnet is happy to document with her smartphone. Pearl pouts over at her when Steven isn’t looking; she knows this isn’t what Pearl wants to be doing for her birthday, but it makes Steven happy and they’ll have other celebrations later, so Pearl seems to be tolerating it for now.

Steven is bouncing around in front of her with a colorful paper cone tied to his head. The string wouldn’t reach on Garnet’s party hat, so Steven made sure to put it into her afro in such a way so that it would stay. Lion’s has slid off his head one too many times for Steven to correct, so now it is tied to his pink collar, sitting lopsided, further back on his neck.

“Do you like pie?” Steven asks, holding a pan too high for the sitting woman to see- Pearl responds in the affirmative, with a happy look in her eye.

She likes pie more than cake, which Garnet knows. Fortunately for her, Garnet has prepared an actual pie for after dinner.

Unfortunately for her, she does not pick up on Steven’s joke, even after her expression shifts to poorly hidden disappointment at the crustless cream pie in Steven’s hands. She doesn’t even realize when he tips forward, still smiling, right into the path of his dessert. Pearl jumps up and lunges the few feet forward at an impressive speed. She catches his shoulders, pushing him so he lands on his side next to the pie. The crown tumbles off her head in the process, and she’s ended in a deep lunge, one foot still stretched back to where the crown lay.

“Careful, Steven, you almost landed right on that pie,” Pearl says, noticing the little bits of cream that have splattered onto her with distaste, “not that this  _ really  _ counts as a pie...”

Steven rotates, grabbing the fallen pie and smooshing his face into it. That, combined with Pearl’s horrified gasp calls forth a laugh from Garnet. She wishes Amethyst could have joined them, or at least that she’d recorded it to show her when she isn’t so busy with school.

Pearl turns, distraught, to lean onto Garnet. She seems to accept that this was not an accident and instead one of those Steven things that she’ll never understand.

“It’s funny!” Steven insists, glad that he at least caught Garnet laughing, “I have a better idea! We can do kazoo racing next!”

He runs over to his car, stepping over the door to slide in behind the wheel.

“Listen, Steven, I know you spent a lot of effort... putting faces on things, but it may be that I am a tad... mature for this kind of party?” Pearl says, “For your birthday, we can have Amethyst ruin all the pies you want, but I’m just excited to spend time with both at dinner tonight, okay? Enjoy your cars, but I’m going to pass.”

Pearl whisks off her cape, dramatically, handing it over to Garnet, “I’m going to get ready- can you please get this and him clean?” she mumbles, brushing her arm over Garnet’s bicep before heading in.

Garnet’s not surprised to see that Steven looks a bit bummed, but the why surprises her.

“I don’t fit,” he mumbles, sadly, the kazoo dangling loosely from his fingers.

He’s sat on top, unable to fit in between the seat and the steering wheel.

“I don’ fit either.” Garnet says, tying the cape around her neck and dropping in behind Steven on the car. It tilts completely backwards, threatening to throw them both off.

She expects a giggle, but Steven just brushes her off, hopping off the toy car. It tips Garnet onto the sand.

“Are you mad at Pearl for not liking your party?” Garnet asks- it’s not really Pearl’s fault, for being honest, but Garnet has a strict policy of respecting Steven’s feelings the best she can.

“No,” he says, and seems to mean it, “she’s too old. Maybe- Maybe I’m too old too.”

Garnet shrugs, taking Steven’s small hand in her own and leading him up for a cleaning.

\--

Garnet hears the shower water switch off right as she’s finished spot-cleaning the cape. She shoos Steven into his own bathroom to clean up while his hair still has time to dry all the way, then heads down the hallway, slipping into her own bedroom.

Pearl, back to the door, turns her gaze quickly towards Garnet, dropping the towel she’s using to dry her hair to cover her exposed chest. It does nothing to block the view of her bare butt, though Pearl doesn’t seem to care. At the sight of Garnet, she throws her towel over her shoulders to catch the droplets from her hair from dripping, cold, onto her skin. Pearl shuffles over to her underwear drawer, rummaging around inside.

She slides the drawer shut without retrieving anything, as Garnet wraps Pearl in a hug from behind, hands coming to rest on her ribs.

“You’re getting yourself wet,” Pearl says, wriggling out of Garnet’s hold and shooing her away, “and no peeking, you’ll get to see later.”

“Hmh,” Garnet hums, trying to predict Pearl’s choice in her mind; she takes one last glance at her partner before slipping out the door to find Steven.  

He is, similarly, dripping around the house when she finds him. He’s toweling himself off halfheartedly, but is mostly just wandering around in circles.

Garnet trudges past him up the stairs, grabbing him his underwear and the suit that Pearl bought him a while ago. It’s been a bit big, but Steven’s right about growing. Garnet bets it  might actually fit him now.

“I’ve got to grow up.” Steven sighs, towel wrapped around his waist at the sight of Garnet.

She’s unsure how to respond to that, so she hands him his clothes, wordlessly. He seems to perk up at the sight of the blazer in her hands.

“Great idea, Garnet! Grown-ups wear nice clothes all of the time,” he says, “what are you going to wear?”

“I was thinking a dress,” Garnet tells him, while he pulls his trousers on- they fit- “but Pearl kicked me out of our room.”

“Awh, why?”

“So her clothes would be a surprise,” Garnet says, looping his tie around to fasten it neatly within his collar, “just like yours, go upstairs.”

Steven darts up the steps, ready to proudly show off his grown up attire, while Garnet goes to change.

His excitement wanes as he realizes that the previously large suit doesn’t need rolling at the sleeves or ankles anymore.

“I’ll have to get a real job soon,” he muses, staring sadly at his ninja squad jr poster, “and I guess I can’t play my gems game anymore...”

When Pearl comes up to see him, he’s flopped onto his bed, forlornly staring into space.

“Let me see you Steven,” she coos, “stand up.”

He rolls off the bed, standing still while Pearl fusses happily over him, tucking his shirt in and fixing his collar.

“You look so handsome,” Pearl says.

"Not cute?" He whimpers.

"Very cute," Pearl corrects, "it actually fits, now!"

“Pearl, when did you outgrow clowns and balloons?” Steven asks, reaching out to touch her low-hanging earring.

“Oh, I never liked that stuff,” Pearl says, picking up on his mood; she feels a bit bad for her quick dismissal of his celebrations, “but I certainly outgrew other things.”

“Oh.”

“And there were things I liked as a little girl that I still love- like ballet,” Pearl adds, “Steven, the important thing is that you feel like yourself- sweet, and considerate, and only occasionally obnoxious.”

“You really think I’m all those things?”

“Yes,” Pearl laughs, “are you ready to go to dinner?”

He holds the door open for Pearl and Garnet on their way out.

The moonless night sky is clear, and their late departure has lent them a spectacular view of the stars. Pearl comments on their vibrancy as she takes Garnet’s arm to walk down the steps.

The sand proves to be a challenge immediately; Pearl’s heels sink into the fine grains and she pulls heavily on Garnet’s arm for support.

“I’m not sure how you do this,” she laughs; Garnet has been known to wear heels from time to time, but has never commented on the problems associated with living on a beach.

Fortunately, tonight she’s wearing flats, which gives her enough purchase to walk in the sand with no problems. Pearl quickly finds herself swept off her feet into Garnet’s arms.

She giggles, clinging to Garnet, who responds with a kiss.

It’s all a bit a silly, as Garnet is known to be between long periods of stoic behavior, and Pearl is known to be when she deems it appropriate.

Steven grins; he can have fun when he’s older, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all who have reviewed so far :)


	11. Lars and the Cool Kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long break between chapters- here's a new one! I'll get started on the next.

“Woah, what’s this?”

Steven peers over the edge of the drop, at the glittering blue water beneath him. Moss is growing in heaps throughout the pond clinging to rounded rocks that jut slightly out of the water. Some has even spread over floating logs and sticks, dragging them slightly under with their weight. 

“Steven! Get away from there!” 

Steven, not paying attention, continues to stand at the brink.

“Is this a pond or a lake?” he asks.

Large arms wrap around his waist from behind, as Garnet carries out Pearl’s request the fastest way she knows how. 

“Be careful, Steven. There’s rocks in that lake-”

“Oh,  _ lake. _ ”

“- _ that could hurt you,” _ Pearl continues, “you can’t stand on the edge like that; what if you fall in?”

“Garnet would jump in and save me.”

“Rocks, Steven!” Pearl insists, “Are you listening to me?”

He kind of was, but now he’s looking at flowers. He nods, absentmindedly.

“Are these mom’s?”

“No, hers were pink.” Pearl sighs, resolving to keep a closer eye on him while they look. 

“What kind of flowers were they?”

Garnet shrugs. Pearl makes an educated guess, but it’s clear she doesn’t know, either. She’s admitted that they might not even be around anymore, but Steven wanted to  put a small garden in front of his dad’s car wash, and Pearl seemed pretty excited about replanting some of Rose’s flowers. They’d been thriving when Rose was alive, and even afterwards, the last time Pearl had checked, several years ago.

“She should have planted Roses,” Steven giggles, softly stroking a blue flower by the bushes; its petals are soft. 

“I’m done,” Garnet announces; the glare is bright off her visor, and the way she’s holding her head makes it clear it’s not doing much for the brightness at this intensity. 

Steven’s been keeping his head down to look for the flowers, but looking up at Garnet hurts his eyes. Pearl offers her hat, but gives in after Garnet denies it, admitting sadly that the flowers are probably gone.

“Well I’m hungry,” Steven says, resolving to just buy some flowers from the store later; he can find pink ones, he figures. Or roses. Or pink roses... “Can we go to Fish Stew Pizza?”

Pearl pulls a face, but Garnet nods. She tosses Pearl the keys when they reach the car, and climbs into the passenger seat, leaning her head against the window tiredly. 

It’s a slow day at Fish Stew Pizza. The only people inside are Jenny Pizza and her friends, a couple of teenagers Steven’s seen around. 

Jenny excuses herself to take their orders, popping into the kitchen to tell her dad what they want before sitting back on the counter beside the boys. 

Steven drums his fingers excitedly over the table, in anticipation for the Hawaiian slice he’s ordered. Garnet got the same, and Pearl got the plain cheese kind with visible tomatoes that Steven’s not really a fan of. She still doesn’t seem too enthused about their restaurant of choice, but she politely thanks Jenny when the food comes, and she eats her slice. Garnet wolfs her own down, taking Steven’s crusts when he’s done as well. 

At some point, as often happens with adults, Pearl and Garnet start forgetting to include him in the conversation, and it switches from fluffy chat about something that interests them all to Pearl talking about boring adult things and Garnet listening. 

Her glasses are folded, placed onto the table, and she’s leaning back in her seat with an interested expression. Steven can see one of Garnet’s feet all the way by Pearl’s chair, and a glance underneath the table confirms that Pearl’s got her ankles around Garnet’s leg, one foot drumming a slow beat against her calf.

They seem like they’ll want to stay for a little while. 

Steven’s gaze shifts around the room, coming to rest eventually through the window, where a familiar boy is leaning against the wall, barely in sight. Lars is playing it cool, messing with his phone as if he’s just chilling, but the occasional glance to his left gives his true intentions away.

“Can I go play with Lars?” Steven asks, “I have my phone.”

“Hmm? Yes, sure, have fun.” Pearl says, waving him off with the hand not holding onto Garnet’s.

Steven gives her head a pat on the way out, wishing them a nice date while he’s gone. 

The door jingles quietly on his way out, announcing his presence to Lars, who inches further to the right, blocking the sight of himself from the teens within- and consequently, his view of them.

“Hey Lars,” Steven greets, throwing a hand up for a high-five.

“Shh!” Lars hisses, lifting his phone back  up near his face; Steven’s hand stays high, “No, Steven, no high fives.”

“Okay,” Steven says, dropping his palm onto Lars’ chest before it is batted away.

Lars scoffs off Steven’s suggestion that he should be at work, claiming that he does other things sometimes, but all Steven sees is a lot of hanging around doing nothing. 

Jenny Pizza and her friends walk past the both of them without a look, but Steven knows how to fix that.

They’re friendly when he goes up to talk to them, going so far as inviting Steven and Lars out for a drive.

“Ok!” Steven says, “Lars will be really excited, I’ll go get him.”

Lars does not act excited in the way Steven is used to, but he’s coming along with them, and Steven knows that people are all different and they act in different ways, even when feeling the same thing. Steven’s excitement manifests itself as giddiness, as he bounces happily in the middle seat between his new friend and his old friend. 

They veto all of Steven’s ideas for their destination, but he got invited along on their trip, so he isn’t too displeased. Eventually, the car rolls up to a familiar spot.

“Oh, this is Dead Man’s Mouth?” Steven says, “I was here earlier! My mom planted some flowers; we were trying to find them.”

“Is your mom the skinny lady with the colored hair, or the tall lady with the afro?” Jenny asks.

“Neither,” Steven giggles, “those are Pearl and Garnet. My mom’s not around any more.”

Jenny nods, looking out over the edge of the cliff Pearl had warned Steven about earlier. Steven decides she’s too far away to accidentally fall in, and turns his attention to taking another glance around. 

He looks back to find that the four teens have stripped somewhat, and a smattering of clothes lie on the ground.

“What are you doing?”

“This looks rad for jumping,” Sour Cream declares, dropping his pant legs and backing up some distance.

“Noooo!” Steven shouts- too late for Sour Cream, who has hopped over the edge, "Roooocksss!"

He lunges forwards, grabbing Lars around the middle and yelling at the two teens just out of reach. They skid to a stop at his shout and Sour Cream’s pained yell from below. Jenny backs up, while Buck drops onto his butt to stop his forward motion, peering over the edge. 

Steven runs around, going down the slope to the bottom, where the Lake is. Jenny passes him on the way, going to meet Sour Cream and make sure he’s alright. 

He seems to be, but the rocks Pearl warned Steven about were no empty threat. Fortunately he grazed the side of one, scraping his leg and side up, but not producing any deep cuts or blunt force trauma.

“Ow,” he whines, “that totally hurts.”

Lars crouches, pressing his shirt against Sour Cream’s bleeding leg. 

“Naw man, your shirt.”

“It’s fine,” Lars mutters, “I hate snakes.” 

“Steven,” Jenny gasps, gazing wide eyed at him while she pulls Sour Cream to his feet, “you saved our lives!”

“Or our legs, at least,” Buck comments.

“It’s fine!” Steven says, “Pearl warned me about them earlier. Lars is the reason I came with you guys.”

“Nice, Lars,” Sour Cream says, ready to pass praise on to whomever might have stopped his friends from cracking their heads open.

“Uh, yeah?” He shrugs, “Here, I’ll help you.”

They get Sour Cream in the car, and Steven moves to shotgun while Jenny drives and Lars and Buck sit with the injured boy.

“I think there’s a shortcut to town over that hill,” Lars suggests, trying to keep the praise coming.

Jenny shrugs, following his claim up the road. 

He’s not right.

The hill ends in a cliff, with no road immediately down it to take them to the town visible in the distance. The top of the hill is covered in pink flowers, which the sun filters beautifully over. 

“Oh,” Lars cringes, ready to apologize to Sour Cream, who must be stinging all over, by wasting their time going the wrong way.

“Woah,” Sour Cream coos, pushing at Buck to get out of the car, pulling himself up by the other boy’s shoulders and walking with him higher up, “this is so cool.”

“These are my mom’s flowers!” Steven says, “Probably! They’re pink, like Pearl said.”

“Nice, Lars!” Sour Cream says, “You found his mom’s flowers.”

“And it’s so pretty...” Jenny says, grinning over at him.

Steven giggles delightedly at the chest-five Lars gives him, running over to help Sour Cream to dig flowers out of the ground, capturing a clump of dirt with the roots inside to drop into the large pockets of his blood-stained cargo pants. They collect two, which Steven assures them is enough for now, but Jenny grabs some more using the spare disposable containers in the back of her delivery car. 

“Thanks guys,” Steven says, happy to have come.

“What are friends for,” Jenny laughs.

Steven’s overt thumbs up does not seem quite so appreciated by Lars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'd love a moment of your time if you want to let me know you're reading by leaving a comment. Thank you.
> 
> Sometimes I also draw my Human AU, if you want to take a look at some of them:  
> http://theoncomingwolf.tumblr.com/tagged/human-au


	12. Onion Trade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will skim through some of the more similar parts to the episode, and go more in depth for the things that are new.

She’s right about his room being messy, but the point is not helping much in his search for Ranger Guy.

“Give him a break, P, my room’s messy, but I always find what I’m looking for.”

“Then why haven’t you found my IPod yet?” she asks, breaking from berating Steven to shoot a glare at Amethyst.

“I haven’t looked for it yet.”

“Amethyst!” Pearl snaps, “Did you look at your room at the college before you left, either?”

Amethyst shakes her head, no.

“Amethyst, go and find it right this second,”

Steven leaves them to their fighting- he has some sad news to tell his dad.

Greg doesn’t remember the Ranger Guy, he does have quarters- and some trash.

“THANK YOU!” Steven exclaims, making a break for the arcade. 

\--

“Dave Guy?”

So far, it’s a bit of a disappointment to get the little blue man and his taxes, but he can only get better characters from here- maybe he’ll even get a miscolored Invisible Guy!

“Dave Guy?!”

The blows just keep coming as Dave Guy after Dave Guy tumbles from the machine, each the correct color and form. 

“Awh!” Steven groans as the machine tells him there aren’t any more GUYS left. 

He sits forlornly against the machine, peering out at the boardwalk. 

It’s Onion; Onion, who has a Ranger Guy.

Onion who has a Ranger Guy!

Steven follows after him, watching curiously as he goes throughout his day, making deals with people, and his own fun. Steven approaches him, excited that he has a chance at a Ranger Guy- Steven can make a deal.

...Steven can’t make a deal.

Apparently even 30 Dave Guys, in Onion’s eyes, is not enough to trade for one Ranger Guy; Steven returns home, defeated. 

\--

“Why are there so many?” Garnet repeats, digging through the bag while Steven pouts at Pearl.

“That’s how many the machine gave me,” Steven says, “who even wants thirty Dave Guys? Who wants one Dave Guy?” 

“You, apparently- you spent $7.50 on them,” Pearl points out.

“Steven,” Garnet says.

At his look, she holds up a Dave Guy. Before his eyes, she brings her fingers down behind her palm, popping them back up with now two Dave Guys in her hand. She holds a second, empty hand up at him, dropping the two in her palms, shaking them around, and then opening her hands to reveal three Dave Guys.

“Are you going to do that with all 30?” Steven asks, excitedly, glad to see that there is some use for Dave Guy, at last. 

Pearl, glad her little boy seems less defeated, heads back into her room for a good lie down. 

Garnet does magic with a few more Dave Guys, tossing them to Steven as they become too numerous to hold. After a bit, she teaches him a couple easy tricks for hiding and revealing the toys.

“This’ll impress Onion,” Steven laughs, “maybe he’ll trade them back to me if there’s magic involved.”

He shows Amethyst the trick when he heads outside- she nods approvingly. 

“Nice swindling,” she says, “hey, Steven, look what I found.” 

She holds up a camera, snapping a picture of him. A photograph slides out of the bottom; shaking it, she reveals a happy picture of the boy holding his magically revealed Dave Guys.

“Woah, cool,” Steven says, “where did you get that?”

“It’s Pearl’s- I found it when I was looking for her IPod. I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I did take some weird pictures and hide them all over her room.”

“Oh,” Steven says; he doesn’t think Pearl will like that very much, but he drops it when Amethyst hands him the camera, “ooh.”

Placing the camera around his neck, Steven runs off to make a new deal with Onion, and maybe take some pictures along the way. 

He catches up with him back on the boardwalk. 

“Onion!” He says, “If you won’t go for one Dave Guy... here’s two!” 

He looks unimpressed so far. Steven reveals a third, tossing them to Onion, who lets them bounce off of him carelessly. Another and another, summoned with magic, but Onion continues to deny his request for change, stepping unnervingly close to Steven. 

Finally, the boy points to the camera around Steven’s neck.

“You want this?” Steven says, cringing, “It’s Pearl’s, it’s not mine...”

\---

It’s nice to have a Ranger Guy again. 

Well, it’s not as nice as he remembers, but it’s... it’s kind of boring.

“Darn it!” Steven mutters, “I knew I shouldn’t have given him the camera, that would be way more fun than this.”

He twists around to see Pearl and Garnet sitting together on the sand. They look cute. If only he could take a picture...

Steven hops to his feet. Onion seems like a reasonable guy; he would probably trade back if Steven asked nicely. 

“Steven?” Pearl asks, “Where are you going?”

“Uhm... nowhere?” he says, waving and running off, clearly anxious.

Pearl pretends to mind her own business for about three seconds before turning worriedly to her partner. 

“Can we find out where he’s going?”

\--

“Onion!”

The young boy looks up at his name, cocking his head curiously to the side.  

“I want to trade back.”

Onion shakes his head, walking across the road to hold his camera up to Steven’s disappointed face, to take a picture.

“...Is that my camera?”

Steven turns, startled, to see Pearl and Garnet walking towards him.

“Let me trade back, please!” Steven whispers, stepping towards Onion, “it wasn’t mine to trade.”

Onion turns on his heel, running into the street, prompting Steven to follow.

“Steven!” Pearl gasps, bursting forwards even though there’s no way she’ll get to him before the car does. 

Steven, panicked, grabs the back of Onion’s shirt roughly, in an attempt to throw them both out of the path of the oncoming vehicle.

The driver of the car, noticing the two boys in front of him before he has a chance to register the women chasing after them, swerves to the left. 

Pearl falls heavily onto the grass as Garnet hauls her out of the way, flinching as she hears the heavy thud of her partner’s body colliding with the car.

“Garnet!” Pearl gasps.

Garnet looks up to the shocked face of Mr Fryman, whose hood she’s just landed on. Her hip hurts like hell, but her feet never left the ground, merely skidded back a small bit. Mostly, the car’s brakes lessened the impact, and all the hit did was to knock her off balance and onto the hood of the car. Her hip will likely bruise, but nothing as bad as what would have happened if he’d hit the smaller, weaker targets playing in the road.

“I’m so sorry!” Mr Fryman says, throwing his door open to make sure Garnet is okay.

Garnet holds up a hand to indicate that she’s fine.

“Thank you for not hitting them,” she says, earnestly, turning towards the boys in question, who have landed in a heap on the ground after Steven’s tackle, “STEVEN.”

At Pearl’s reassurance, Mr Fryman gets back in his car to leave, while Garnet looms angrily over the two children. 

“Are you okay?” Steven asks, sheepishly. 

“Yes,” she says, tersely.

“What were you thinking?” Pearl asks, throwing her arms into the air before dropping both hands on Garnet’s shoulder and arm, “You almost got killed! Garnet could have been more hurt...”

“He took my Ranger Guy! And I traded your camera for him, which I shouldn’t have done, but the deal didn’t count anyway...”

He holds her camera up, triumphantly, to return to her.

A bit of glass falls from the shattered lens. 

“Oh.”

“It’s broken,” Pearl huffs, “I am never letting Amethyst borrow anything again.”

“I think I broke it when we fell!”

“I am never letting Amethyst borrow anything ever again,” Pearl repeats, opinion not changed by who actually broke her Polaroid, “whatever, the film is so pricey these days anyway.”

Steven talks it out with Onion, eventually deciding to give the boy his Ranger Guy- he has his dad around, anyway, he doesn’t need that specific reminder too badly. 

Steven lifts the fallen photo off the ground, which Onion took while running. 

It depicts Steven, chasing after him. The car, swerving towards Pearl and Garnet, is in the background. 

“Well, now I have new memories,” he muses, “horrible, horrible memories.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am in the process of writing Steven the Sword Fighter. It will be much lengthier than other chapters have been, just based on how much I've written so far and how much I have to go.


	13. Steven the Swordfighter PART ONE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK so this chapter is way too long, so I'm splitting it into two parts- here's the first out of two parts.
> 
> Possible TW for this chapter, so if you don't mind spoilers for the events below, click (SEE END OF CHAPTER FOR MORE NOTES) and it should jump you to the bottom without showing any of the story. Then just jump back up.

The sharp blade cuts expertly through the air in Pearl’s practiced grip- landing heavily over and over as she cuts quickly through some celery. 

She slides it into the pot, dropping a carrot onto the board to repeat the process.

“Back up a little, Steven,” Pearl warns, “knives are dangerous.” 

“You’re so good with it though,” he points out, slicing an imaginary dagger through the air as he dances past her, “I think Pearl the Crystal Gem should have a sword- would you like a sword?”

“What did I have before?” She asks, putting the carrots in with the celery and onions. 

“You had a spear,” he says, now swinging an imaginary boomerang blade, still on a high from watching his movie with Pearl and Garnet, “but you’re ambidextrous, so you could have both.”

“I don’t think I would wield two different weapons, just because I’m ambidextrous,” Pearl points out, taking more vegetables.

“Can you chop with your right hand this time?” He asks, stepping back as she nudges him with her butt, to indicate that he’s too close to the sharp object. 

Pearl shrugs, taking the knife in her opposite hand to chop the potato for their bean soup. 

She favors her left hand, but she does like the fact that she can use either, if she really wants to. Pearl thinks it might be a tad dangerous, chopping something somewhat round with her non-dominant hand, but if she’s careful, there shouldn’t be any danger from the blade. 

Steven glances over to Garnet, who is just the right size for their couch. She seems to have been lulled to sleep by the peaceful sound of the rain outside, and her body stretches across almost the exact length of the cushions, lying on her stomach.

“Oh,” Pearl mutters, “we don’t have any bread.” 

She frowns, glancing at the clock.

“Okay, Steven,” she says, “I’m going to run to the store and I’ll be right back- shouldn’t be more than 15 minutes. Turn the heat off after 10 minutes and leave the lid on, okay? If you need help, wake Garnet.”

She touches his hair, softly, giving his head a gentle scratch, before grabbing her keys and umbrella and stepping out into the rainy night.

Steven sets an alarm on his phone, not trusting himself to remember 10 minutes otherwise, and grabs a mop to resume his ninja fighting. 

Pearl will definitely use a sword, he decides, but only sometimes. When she wants to look really cool- he knows Pearl likes to look cool sometimes, she can use two at the same time. Normally, she can just use one spear.

His alarm goes off as he lay dying on the floor, after a fatal blow by an opponent. Steven hops to his feet, dropping his mop to turn off the heat and set the lid on top of Pearl’s pot. 

Five more minutes pass- Pearl should be home any minute. He nudges Garnet awake, so they can start eating when she walks in. 

They set the table, and pour the drinks, and five more minutes pass. 

Steven finishes his milk; five minutes. 

Another five. 

“Where is she?” Steven asks, “She said only 15, and that was a while ago...”

Garnet says nothing, glancing worriedly towards the door.

She jumps up the moment the phone rings.

“Oh, good, that must be her,” Steven says, as Garnet picks it up.

“This is she,” Garnet says- Steven thinks for a moment that she’s telling him Pearl called, before realizing she was confirming her own identity to the person on the phone; he wonders who would be calling so late at night.

Garnet turns her back to Steven, voice quieting as she speaks to the caller. 

He struggles to listen.

“...We’ll be right there.” 

Garnet drops the phone down on the receiver, picking it back up and dialing a new number.

“Is something wrong?” 

“...Pearl’s had an accident,” she says, turning her back once more as the ringing at her ear stops, “Greg,” she says softly, as Steven steps closer to hear, “I need you to drive Steven and me to the hospital. Pearl took the car... Yes... I’m not sure.”

“Is she okay?” Steven asks, grabbing at Garnet’s shirt.

She sets a hand reassuringly on his head, putting the phone down. 

“They wouldn’t say, but I’m sure,” she tells him, picking her visor off the counter and sliding it onto her face, “do you want to try to eat before Greg gets here?”

Steven shakes his head. Garnet collects their other umbrella from the closet, and her cellphone, sending a text to Amethyst while they wait for Greg’s text to confirm he’s arrived. 

Steven feels a little shaky, he’s so nervous, and holds heavily onto Garnet’s arm, shifting from foot to foot. 

Garnet’s phone pings in her hand, and she tucks it into her jacket pocket, leading Steven outside and into Greg’s van.

She doesn’t say anything as she gets into the passenger seat; she just nods silently at Greg and looks out the window. 

“Hey kiddo,” he says, softly, pulling the van out to head towards the hospital.

“Hey,” Steven says, speaking quietly back; they both seem reluctant to interrupt Garnet’s silence, and soon the van falls into a hush, filled only with the sounds of the rain. 

They turn, and Steven looks as they pass the road he knows leads to the store, wondering if he will see any flashing lights through the precipitation. He doesn’t, but they’re soon at the hospital, which sits brightly in the middle of the dark.

It’s brighter inside, and Garnet pushes her glasses all the way onto her face as they walk down the halls; Steven knows that fluorescent lights sometimes bothers her bad eye- it’s why she wears the visor, usually. He wonders if this is the hospital where Garnet went after she got hurt. He bets there’s probably one much closer to her college.

“Garnet Blue,” she announces, as she steps hurriedly up to the front desk. 

“Yes, Ms Blue,” the woman nods, checking Pearl’s emergency contact list, “are you officially married to the patient?”

“Uh, no,” Garnet rubs the back of her neck, “we haven’t gotten around to that yet- the law’s pretty new.”

The woman nods, understandingly.

“Can I see her?”

She shakes her head, “It’s... actually open only to family, legally, at this time. We can’t share any details, either..”

“I am family,” Garnet tells her, sternly. 

“When she wakes up, she can ask you in, until then...”   
“She isn’t awake?” Garnet asks, leaning in, “I- what about Steven? He’s her son, officially. She’s the one who signed the adoption papers. Can I take him in to see her?”

Steven’s watery eyes widen; he didn’t know he was actually adopted- he thought he just lived with them.

“Oh, uhm, that would be fine, I suppose,” she types into her computer to confirm that Steven does have files under Pearl’s name- she’s taken him in for shots before, “Yes.”

Garnet nods, stepping away from the desk to crouch before the boy, seated on Greg’s lap.

“Steven,” she says, “they’ll let us see her tonight, but only if you want to... It might be better to see her in the morning, when she’s awake.”

“I want to see her,” Steven insists.

Garnet looks higher, to Greg.

“We could ask the details- is Amethyst allowed to get them? She is her step-sister.” 

“They won’t give anything away over the phone, but they’ll tell Steven,” Garnet sighs.

Steven nods, sliding off his dad’s lap to approach the doctor by the door, looking expectantly over to him. The man, trying to compromise between his own height and Steven’s, set’s his knee on the chair beside the door, leaning his weight down to get his face more at Steven’s level.

“Hello,” he takes Steven’s hand in a soft hand-shake, “I’m Doctor Bower.”

“Hello,” Steven says, “I’m Steven Universe.”

“Cool name,” the doctor says, continuing a little softer, “so the details that I’ve heard from the police is that someone was going too fast in the rain- when you drive in the rain, the water makes your tires slide, and sometimes you can’t control your car. In this case, the driver turned too quickly, and their car slid out of control and hit your mom’s, which knocked it off the road.”

Steven frowns, breathing carefully. Pearl’s not his mom- the comparison is not reassuring, at the moment. 

“She’s going to be okay,” he assures them, “she hit her head, when the car crashed, and a piece of metal broke somewhere in the wreck, which caused her to lose some blood.”

That doesn’t sound very okay, to him. Steven’s watery eyes turn into tears, which fall quietly onto the neat tiled floor. The doctor sets a reassuring hand on his head at the same moment Garnet holds his shoulder. 

“She’s just resting now, because of all that happened, but you can go in quietly and see her, so you know she’s okay, alright? We’ll have to keep it short, because it isn’t visiting hours, but she’ll be much better company, tomorrow.”

Steven nods. 

Garnet says nothing, still, messing with her glasses. She wants to know the kind of details they’ll tell Amethyst when she arrives, or Pearl when she’s awake, but for now she’ll have to settle for the watered down child’s version. She isn’t quite sure she wants to bring Steven in before she wakes, but he insists on seeing Pearl, and Garnet wouldn’t mind it herself. 

The nurse assigned to her smiles gently at Steven, as he walks through the door. He doesn’t really acknowledge her, peering around the woman to look at the bed farther into the room.

Pearl’s sleeping on her back, which she doesn’t like to do, and she’s not dressed as warmly as he thinks she should be. She’s got on a hospital gown, with a thin blanket over her, but Pearl is small and gets cold easily- she wears socks to bed and often wears the overshirt from Garnet’s pajamas, to keep her arms covered while she’s sleeping.

He creeps closer; the only light in the room is from the soft glow from the monitor- which is enough to catch his eye but not really to cast light- and from the moonlight splashed in horizontal bands onto the room through the half-opened blinds. 

Pearl’s got a bruise on the left side of her face- it’s purple and swollen over the bone above her eye. Farther up, her bangs have been pushed back to affix gauze to her forehead, on the same side. She doesn’t look as bad as he expected, overall, but it’s dark, and he can only see her head, so he’ll have to reassess when she wakes up in the morning. 

Garnet steps past Steven to be closer to her partner, setting a gentle hand on the opposite side of her head from her injuries. She strokes her thumb across Pearl’s brow, sweeping away the bangs there. 

The nurse quietly announces that they’ll have to go. Steven nods, understandingly, ready to go home anyway, and sleep off the time between now and when he can see Pearl again. 

Garnet gives a quick kiss to her forehead before stepping away to join Steven exiting the room. He’s often thought Pearl and Garnet are the very best to sleeping Steven- kissing his head, carrying him to his room, and shushing softly to him if he woke up at all while they assumed his slumber- he had not considered before if they acted similarly towards one another when asleep. Does Pearl kiss Garnet’s cheek before going to sleep, like she does to him? Does Garnet make sure Pearl has enough blankets, so she won’t be cold? He wants to do that now, for her.

“She gets cold easily,” Steven says softly, as the nurse closes the door.

“I think I could get her another blanket,” the nurse says, after a moment, “Would you like that?”

Steven nods, appreciatively, as another thought occurs to him, “Is the other guy okay?” He asks, “Who also crashed?”

The nurse looks surprised, but nods, “he’s okay- his car didn’t go off the road like hers. He’s the one who called the ambulance.”

“That’s good,” Steven says, clinging to Garnet, tiredly.

Garnet nudges him off of her, leaning to pick him up. He’s a too big, too old to carry, but Garnet doesn’t seem to mind, holding him tightly as he sinks sleepily into her shoulder.

\---

Greg’s on the couch when Steven comes downstairs in the morning. Garnet was sure that he ate some of Pearl’s reheated soup before he went to bed, and Greg was invited to stay the night, partially so they could use his van again. 

Steven leaves him to his sleep, wandering over to the fridge to get milk for his cereal. Garnet’s handwriting, blocky and in all caps, catches his attention from a note magneted to the fridge. She’s gone out, to see Pearl; Amethyst can’t come home until the weekend, so there’s no use waiting around for her today.

Steven pouts as he opens the fridge door- he wanted to go see Pearl...

He pours his bowl of mini Trix, settling down at the bar to enjoy his breakfast, but all he can think about is Pearl. He’s seen her sleep before, but usually she just looks small and cute. Last night was different, and he’d rather he was able to put a different image in his mind. 

It’s obvious enough that they cleaned her face off- if she needed gauze, there must have been some bleeding from her head, in addition to whatever the doctor mentioned. An image flashes into his mind. It’s dark, it’s raining- it’s cold, and wet. Pearl’s head is bleeding, and somewhere else; her stomach? No one would know, but the other guy was okay, since his car stayed on the road, even though it was his fault, and he called the ambulance for her...

Steven bounces his leg anxiously against his chair, glancing towards the door in the hopes that Garnet will come back home with Pearl, and he can give her hugs and sit with her if she isn’t feeling well, so she has company. 

Garnet doesn’t come home until after Greg is awake, and she comes home alone. 

“The insurance company is paying for us to rent a car until I have a chance to buy a new one,” Garnet says, tiredly, sitting on the couch and nodding at Greg’s offer to drive her there.

“Did you go to see Pearl?” Steven asks.

Garnet nods, again. 

“She’s awake, but they won’t let her go home yet,” she says, “if you come with me to get the car, we can see her right after; I was going to bring her laptop and some books.”

“How long until she can come back?” Steven pouts.

“Could be a couple days,” Garnet tells him, “maybe a week- I’m not sure. Whenever she comes back she’ll still have to take it easy for a week.”

“We can help her!” Steven says, “I’ll be home with Pearl, if she needs anything, so she can come back sooner, right?”

Garnet doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t usually, so he takes the slight lift of her shoulders as an answer as she turns her back to collect some of Pearl’s things. 

Greg mills around the kitchen, quickly eating some raisin bread and orange juice while he waits for Garnet to give him confirmation that they’re leaving. He grabs one more slice before following her out the door, setting his free hand gently between Steven’s shoulder blades to lead him outside. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \-- TW for car accidents, though it is only a second hand account --
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you liked, please consider leaving a review- they're great motivation but also they make me happy.


	14. Steven the Swordfighter PART TWO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I lovedddd those nice reviews from last chapter, thanks!

They drive down the road leading to the store on the way to the rental place. Steven looks as they pass places where the edge of the road declines into small ditches, but they have, at the very least, moved the car. He can’t see any other signs of a crash, but he supposes he probably would if they weren’t moving by all potential sites so fast.  

Greg doesn’t seem blind to the fact that Steven’s got his forehead pressed to the glass of the window- he sits taller in his seat so he can see Steven through his rearview mirror. Garnet, if she notices, shows no indication, staring straight ahead at the road in silence. 

“What color do you think the car will be?” Greg asks, playfully, while Garnet goes inside.

“Hmm,” Steven muses, “white. You?”

“I like... blue,” Greg decides.

“You’ll lose!” Steven says, “Cars are hardly ever blue.”

“We’ll see.”

“I pick black for Pearl, since she’s not here to play,” Steven says, “and red for Garnet, because that was the old color, and I think she picked it. Amethyst can have all the weird colors, like yellow and purple and green.”

“What about grey?”

“Lion can have grey,” Steven giggles.

The car, which Garnet pulls around into the spot next to theirs, is black. 

“We’ll have to tell Pearl she won,” Steven says.

“You will,” Greg corrects, turning to give Steven the closest thing to a hug he can from the front seat as the boy unbuckles to scootch closer, “I’m going back to the car wash- I think Pearl’s mostly excited to see you, anyway.”

He kisses Steven’s forehead, waving to him as he slides out of the tall van and walks around to climb into the front seat of Garnet’s rental.

“Pearl won,” Steven announces, as he buckles, “we played the car color game, and I gave her black.” 

“Good,” Garnet says, in that soft, low way she speaks most of the time.

“What kind of car is this?”

“I’s a Ford Fusion,” she tells him, backing her car out of its spot; the screen changes to a camera view of the area behind their car.

“Oh, cool,” Steven says, toying with the touch screen radio options once Garnet has put the car back in drive, “you’re a fusion in my game.”

“Hm?”

“Ruby and Sapphire make you- that’s why you’re so tall,”

Garnet smiles, tilting her head slightly away from the road, so he can see it.

“I’ve never met Pearl or Amethyst’s parents, so...” Steven says, a thought occurring to him, “Do you think that Pearl’s mom will come see her, now that she’s in the hospital?”

“No,” Garnet says softly, “I don’t think she will.”

“...Why not?”

“Well, not everyone has nice parents like mine, or Greg,” Garnet shrugs, “but she’s got us- and Amethyst, when the week ends. That’s all she’d want to see, anyway.”

“Okay...”

The anxious feeling in his gut increases as Garnet pulls into the parking lot of the hospital. He unbuckles before she has a chance to put it into park, hopping out of the car as Garnet turns the engine off. 

They have to talk to the front desk before they’re allowed to go in, and unlike yesterday, they’ve got to wait behind a couple people before they can talk to the guy in charge of letting people visit. Steven leans onto Garnet in an attempt to quell the spikes of excitement in his belly. 

After a few minutes, Garnet is permitted to sign in, telling Steven the room number so he can run ahead without her. 

“Thanks,” he calls back, taking no time to dash down the hallway. 

The numbers and letters on the side of the doors go in an order which is a little bit confusing, but he remembers the basic route from last night, so the room isn’t too difficult to find. Steven slows as he approaches the door, not wanting to startle Pearl too badly while she’s meant to be resting by slamming it against the wall. 

He steps quietly into the room, eyes glued to the figure in the bed.

“Steven,” Pearl coos, wriggling a little to sit higher.

“Pearl!” Steven bounds over, almost forgetting to be gentle; Pearl places a warning hand on his shoulder, guiding his momentum towards her shoulders and not towards her gut.

“It’s nice to see you,” she says, inching over as he climbs onto the bed next to her; Pearl directs her smile to Garnet, acknowledging her briefly before setting gentle hands on the sides of Steven’s face.

“Are you feeling okay?” Steven asks, eyeing the bruise on Pearl’s face, which looks all the more vibrant in the light, “Did it hurt? Was it scary?”

“I’m fine,” she assures him.

“It was scary for me,” he murmurs, leaning onto her shoulder.

“She was complaining more about being nauseous this morning than anything else,” Garnet jokes.

“Yes, well, throwing up is terrible,” Pearl says, making a face. 

“We have an arrangement,” Garnet continues, glad to see Steven is looking happier, “that Pearl does the taxes and in return she never has to deal with any throw up ever. Yours, hers, mine...” 

“What if you’re sick and need help?”

“You can help her,” Pearl says; Steven cannot quite tell if she’s joking, but he laughs, and Pearl laughs softly back, squeezing him a  little tighter. 

He sits with her for a little while, until a nurse comes by to shoo Steven out of Pearl’s bed and let her rest. 

Garnet drives him home in their rental Ford Fusion, going over some math and reading with him for his homeschooling. They do some problem sheets that Pearl either wrote or found, and some of Steven’s new Septimus Heap book, a cute and long piece of children’s fiction which doesn’t interest Pearl, but which Garnet likes to read with him. He does the neutral text and the children’s voices, and Garnet does the adults’, which Steven likes particularly with her English accent.

Garnet makes the dinner and tucks him in and kisses his forehead, and Pearl is not there, but it’s okay for now. 

\--

The routine works for a few days. Garnet looks a little tired, dealing with her own work, and Steven, and the additional problems that need attention from the hospital, the insurance, and the search for a new car. Steven finds that the house is less clean, and his education is less routine. He’s a little bored, at times, but he practices sword fighting in front of the house, and hangs out with his dad, when Garnet is not home and he’s feeling lonely. Amethyst comes by late at night on Friday, adding a bit to the chaos, but being there for Steven, at least. 

Finally, when Garnet walks in Saturday morning, she’s not alone. 

The bruise on Pearl’s forehead looks a little less painful, but now instead of being all purple, it’s a bit more colorful, with tinges of green mixed in. The gauze is gone, and she’s got a scabbed gash on her forehead. Her clothes cover wherever the hospital gown did, but he know’s she’s got an additional injury under her shirt, that he’s not yet seen.

Despite all this, her number one concern does not seem to be her health. 

Pearl looks around at her family, assembled to see her in the messy living room, happy smiles on their faces, and sighs.

“I can’t leave you guys alone for a second.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Pls consider leaving a comment if you have a moment, it would brighten my day.


	15. Lion 2: The Movie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm back. I had college to deal with and I guess I forgot about this fic. I do wish to eventually catch up with canon though, so I guess I had better get writing.  
> I also tend to delay on chapters I'm less excited for, but hopefully I'll have more motivation for the next ones.

Pearl and Garnet are standing funny when he walks in the door with Connie. Their posturing is somewhat obvious; Pearl’s head is held high, stomach muscles taught under her tight shirt, and posture perfect; Garnet is leaning against the counter, arms crossed over her chest, shoulders back. 

“Oh, Connie, what a surprise to see you!” Pearl says, as if she didn’t know the girl was trailing behind Steven.

Their attempts to look cool are appreciated by Steven; he thinks it’s cute when they act silly. 

“Hello, Mrs. Universe,” Connie says, as Steven holds his phone up to his guardians.

“Pearl,” she corrects, speaking over the narration, but keeping her eyes on the screen.

“Do you need a ride to the movie?” Garnet asks, apparently not too fazed by the rocket coming out of Dogcopter’s butt.

“Uh,” Steven thinks to their current plan, “no, that’s okay.”

“It’s kind of far,” Connie points out.

Steven knows she’s right, but he really wanted to bring Lion along, and he’s not sure that Garnet would be down with that.

“Okay,” Steven relents, “uhm, Garnet, can I have the keys? I want to put our snacks in the car.”

“My parents say I’m not allowed to buy snacks at the theater,” Connie tells them, “so we’re not buying  _ anything  _ at the theater.”

Garnet shrugs, dropping the keys into Steven’s open palm. He thanks her, taking Connie’s arm and dragging Connie away. He almost forgets the snacks, turning back to sheepishly collect them before hurrying out the door. 

“We’ve got to get Lion into the car before Garnet comes out,” he tells her, hurrying down the steps.

Connie follows him to the doghouse sitting under their elevated deck. Pearl built it, after Greg’s initial failed attempt. Steven was a little worried his dad might be offended, but he has to admit that Pearl’s doghouse looks a lot better, and it actually keeps rain out. Lion sits curled inside, where he usually is when he’s not exploring or in the house. Steven crouches to step in- it’s pretty big, but cramped for a dog  _ and  _ a kid. There’s a dog bed stuffed inside, and some toys Lion never seems to touch. 

He grabs the dog’s collar, a nice pink one that Steven picked out, and pulls the unwilling animal out onto the sand, fastening a pink leash to the buckle. Lion grunts, yawning widely.

“Come on,” Steven insists.

He pads after the children across the beach, on the way to their car. Just as Steven spots the new black sedan, Lion huffs, running ahead. 

“Woah!” Steven says, dropping his backpack onto the ground as he tries to avoid getting pulled down by the stronger creature. 

“The car is that way, Lion!” Steven cries, stumbling over his sandals in an attempt to keep pace. Connie sprints after them, beating Steven and catching up to Lion after several more exhausting yards.

Steven’s ankle twists as Lion angles away from Connie, and he quickly straightens his wrist so the leash will come off of it without taking his hand with it. He drops heavily onto the ground, gasping painfully as the wind is knocked out of him. 

Connie, faster than he expected her to be, turns to grab Lion’s collar, digging her heels in and wrapping him in a tight hug as he stops running, leaning most of her weight onto his back to discourage him from taking off again. 

“Connie, that was amazing! You’re so fast!” Steven says, pushing himself up onto his feet.

“Tennis practice,” she explains, a blush coming to her cheeks; she doesn’t turn as obviously red as Steven’s paler face would, but her glance downward belies her embarrassment at the compliment.

“We’ve got to get you in the back,” Steven tells Lion, pulling him over to the car; Connie doesn’t release her grip on his collar until he’s loaded into the back seat.

Steven gathers the snacks off the beach, glancing towards the house to see Garnet coming down the steps. He shoos Connie into the car, setting his feet on either side of the dog and hoping Garnet doesn’t see him. 

“I’ll pick you up when it’s through,” Garnet tells them, pulling out onto the main road and heading out towards the theater. It’s a 15 minute drive, around the boardwalk to the other side.

Garnet doesn’t speak, per custom, and Connie and Steven chat nervously, trying to hide their giggles as Lion yawns and Steven tries to pass it off as his own.

Connie leans in-between Garnet’s head and her window as the car stops; she thanks her for driving, as Steven pulls the dog out of the backseat and behind a car parked by the ticket booth. 

“You’re welcome,” Garnet says, meeting Connie’s gaze as she exits the car. 

She doesn’t move, sitting with the engine off.

“Aren’t you going to go home now?” Steven asks, “I bet Pearl misses you.”

“I’m waiting to see if I need to take that dog home,” Garnet says, speaking loudly so she doesn’t have to lean her head out the open window.

“Oh,” Steven mutters, as Connie giggles.

“She’s going to let us try? Man, your... uh... Man, Pearl and Garnet are so cool,” Connie says, “my parents would never let me.”

“Two kids and a dog for Dogcopter please,” Steven says, confidently.

“Uhm,” the freckled girl at the window looks at the Tibetan, who sits calmly next to Steven’s foot, before leaning in towards the mic, “do you have a rewards card?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Your comments are great motivation and mean a lot to me, if you have a moment. :)


	16. Beach Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry I've been MIA, I have been working a full time job, yada yada, some more excuses...  
> Anyway, this was fun to write. I hope the next chapter is too, so I can get it done. I really do like writing these.  
> A special thanks to Mystique84, who left a comment on every chapter as they read, and kicked my ass into gear by reminding me that I had a fic going and people who read it. And thank you to everyone else who leaves reviews. You guys are why I write this story at all. Otherwise, it would just live in my head.

“Pearl!”

Steven’s shout has an edge too much whine in it to be urgent, so Pearl finishes placing the few plates in her hand into the cabinet before turning to see what is the matter.

“Yes, Steven?”

“Garnet got us banned from Fish Stew Pizza!”

Pearl is somewhat concerned that this has happened, but Garnet is a reasonable woman, so Pearl knows she’s probably going to side with her partner in whatever this is. She didn’t much like that restaurant anyway.

“Oh,” Pearl says, glancing to Garnet; her face is unreadable, as usual, behind her large shades.

“Isn’t this terrible?” Steven questions- he doesn’t seem to be hoisting any blame onto Garnet, but does seem to want to undo whatever has happened, “They’re our neighbors!”

“Yes, well, people are all different, despite their proximity to our dwelling,” Pearl shrugs, “not everyone has to get along... but, uhm, what happened?”

“Garnet kind of... broke the door?” Steven shrugs, “It was an accident, though!”

“You broke their door?”

Garnet is fairly large- not only for a woman, but kind of for a person- and she’s strong, but Pearl knows that she’s gentle. While she is probably capable of breaking a door, such a thing would not happen unless she absolutely wanted it to. 

“Their door must have already been broken,” Garnet defends, “I just happened to be present when it became noticeably broken.”

“It was a little stuck when I tried,” Steven adds, “So Garnet pulled it open, and it popped off it’s top hinge and it twisted and hit the wall, and then the glass broke!”

“Kofi thinks it’s all my fault,” Garnet says, “but that’s not true. Anyway, we can’t go back, but I’m not bothered.”

“Yes, me either,” Pearl agrees, “sorry about your restaurant, Steven, we can just drive to the other one when you really want pizza, okay?”

“But Pearl!”

“No buts, Steven,” Pearl says, “you can try to unban yourself. I’m sure there are no hard feelings from us.”

“Yeah, I don’t care,” Garnet shrugs, helping Pearl to unload the rest of the dishwasher. 

Steven sighs, heading out the front door to try and talk to the Pizza family again.

It doesn’t go as well as the fanciful situations he imagines in his head on the way over. Nanefua acts the closest to his planned scenario- he can always count on Nanefua- but Kofi is still mad that Garnet refused to pay, help, or even apologize. Jenny and Kiki seem to have no opinion, other than that they want to not be involved in any of this at all.

“You are such a nice boy Steven,” Kofi tells him, “but I don’t even know what those women are like; they never really talk to anyone, and the one who broke the door barely said anything before leaving.”

“I mean... Garnet isn’t the best conversationalist, and Pearl mostly just keeps to herself, but they’re actually really nice!” Steven insists, “Why don’t you come to our house this weekend? We can have a beach party, and you can meet them properly...”

Kofi sighs, glancing towards his mother, who nods encouragingly to Steven.

“How kind of you to invite us, Steven,” she says, “of course we will be there. Right, Kofi?”

Kofi tries to argue back with her, but Nanefua waves off his complaints, then waves off steven, assuring him that the PIzza family will be in attendance. 

\----

Garnet and Pearl, true to his word, are really nice people. He doesn’t think that they would particularly like to have people over, but they go along with what he asks, setting up a table and net, wearing the outfits he picked out for them, and cooking the food. Garnet makes hot dogs, hamburgers, and some vegetarian options, keeping everything hot while they wait for the Pizzas to arrive. Pearl tries to tidy, despite the fact that they are outdoors; Garnet seemed happy that they weren’t holding this in their house, at least, but Steven thinks Pearl likes an environment where she has a little more control.

“The Pizzas are here!” Steven announces, excited as he sees them walking around the cliff wall.

“I don’t think that is their last name, Steven,” Pearl murmurs, standing from the table to greet their guests.

“Hi guys!” Steven says, bounding over.

“Hello, Steven,” Nanefua greets, before turning her attention towards his guardians, “hello.”

“Hi,” Pearl says, “I’m Pearl, this is Garnet.”

The Pizzas do their own introductions, Kofi looking over at Garnet every once in awhile to see if she even cares about this awkward situation between them.

She doesn’t. Garnet goes back to grilling.

Steven collects the paper plates, passing them out to each member individually.

“Thank you, Steven, for your good manners,” Kofi says, “Greg has taught you very well.”

Steven isn’t above picking up on the low blow, but Pearl and Garnet are truly above not caring, if they were even listening at all. He thinks Amethyst might have found it funny, but he can’t decide if her presence would have made this situation better or worse. 

The Pizzas queue up in front of Garnet, who gives them each their requested food items. Pearl takes only the baked beans, which Garnet has cooking in a little metal pot on top of the grill, and a hot dog bun. Steven asks if he can have a bit of everything, but settles on excluding the hamburger at Garnet’s suggestion that he try just one main at a time. 

“This is a nice place that you ladies have- how long have you lived here?”

“Oh, a while,” Pearl muses, “I lived here with my, uhm, step-sister, then Garnet moved in to help me with Steven.”

“Amethyst?” Jenny asks, “She’s pretty cool.”

There’s a bit of silence, as they chew. Kiki asks them what they do for a living. Pearl tells her she is an engineer, which Steven thinks is the boring way to say sometimes she does stuff like help NASA build spaceships, so he says as much. Garnet says, “stocks”, but Steven’s not really sure what Garnet does, so he lets her leave it at that; the explanation always seems much more boring, and somehow more vague. 

“You must be very smart young ladies,” Nanefua compliments, “I see where Steven gets it.”

Steven giggles. Pearl and Garnet are always going to be smarter than he is, he’s pretty sure, and he’s got no genetics to share with them anyway, but as a homeschooled kid, they’re his teachers, so it might be a little true. Pearl seems to like the compliment, in any case, and per the custom of the evening, Nanefua gets along with everyone, while Kofi seems disappointed that Garnet hasn’t even brought up the door at all.

“Why don’t we play volleyball now?” Steven suggests, “I’ll pick the teams!”

There’s an odd number of them- one point against Amethyst’s absence- but Jenny volunteers to be on Steven and Nanefua’s team, so they have someone who can reach over the net. Steven pairs Kofi with Garnet, so teamwork can help them bond, and Pearl and Kiki go together, since he thinks they’ll get along best. It would be good to have Kofi see how nice Pearl is when she feels like being social with people. 

Kofi laughs at his own joke when he threatens to ground Jenny. Garnet laughs too, and Kofi smiles at her for the first time in the evening.

Garnet and Kofi win, as expected; even with the numbers advantage, Garnet is athletic, Steven is a child, and Nanefua, while nimble for her age, is still a tiny old woman. Plus, as Jenny accuses them at the close of the match, they cheated quite a bit.

They face a little more difficulty against Pearl and Kiki. Kiki and her father seem to be at about the same level, and Kofi seems to be saving his grounding threats for when they’re in trouble. Garnet’s a hard hitter, but Pearl does not seem to mind tossing herself to the ground to catch the ball before it lands, and manages to get to her feet very fast, despite the deep, shifting sand between her toes. Garnet’s not nearly as agile, so her strength is her only real asset as the match goes on. She continues to hit them pretty gently towards Kiki, but after a particularly impressive return by Pearl, she seems to decide against playing nice, and spikes a ball so hard in her partner’s direction that Nanefua jokes about making glass as it hits the sand. 

Kofi starts up again with the empty grounding threats, which sparks a small argument between him and Jenny, who’s not even playing at the moment. It’s diffused rather quickly by an expert tag team effort by Pearl and Garnet, who distract Jenny and Kofi, respectfully, garnering a smile from both of them.

Unlike when Pearl and Amethyst fight, there don’t seem to have been many actual feelings involved, and the distractions stick. Maybe, Steven thinks, a point towards Amethyst not being there. If Pearl and Amethyst had an argument, it might not make Pearl look as good, and without her patience to diffuse situations, the evening could dissolve into chaos.

As it is, Kofi starts to forget that he’s supposed to be mad at Garnet. They start a conversation about their respective homelands, outside of the US, and when Kofi decides that they’ve got to head back, he gives a friendly handshake to each of the women, mentioning before they leave that they are unbanned from his restaurant.

He stands still for a moment, hands on his hips, as he waits for their relief, and their thanks. 

“Yay!” Steven cuts in, as Pearl and Garnet forget to pretend they care, “Isn’t that great, guys?”

“Okay, yes, thanks,” Garnet says, with as much enthusiasm as she can muster, which does not seem to be a whole lot.

Pearl glues her smile to her face, holding her thumb up as her best impersonation of someone who gives a shit. 

“Great!” Steven says, ushering the Pizza family away from his guardians before they can get themselves re-banned, “thanks for coming, see you soon!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!   
> Reviews are a great way to make me happy, which is good for me, and guilty if I don't write, which is good for you if you like this story. ♥♥♥


	17. Rose's Room (no Rose involved, no room involved)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! I'm going to work on writing the next. I was working full time, but I only have 2 days left in this internship, then back to college with me and more time to write. SU has been really good, too, so nice motivation.

“Good afternoon, Steven,” Pearl greets softly, holding the door open behind her so Garnet can walk through.

“Guys, check this out!” 

Steven gathers his three empty cans of creamed corn, juggling them in his arms so they can read the back. Pearl squints, leaning forward to read, as Garnet nods, not needing any more context for her answer.

“Cool.” 

“Yeah, and on the back are five dollar coupons for mini-golf. I ate three cans, so we can all go together! There’s another in the pantry for Amethyst, in case she comes to town tonight, but I might make her eat that one...”

“That’s so thoughtful, Steven. Unfortunately...”   
Pearl glances to Garnet, bunching her mouth to one side so one cheek fattens up a little.

“We both have some work,” Garnet tells him.

“But mini-golf is so much fun!” Steven argues, telling them about the obstacles, and the pants he borrowed from his dad, “and we didn’t even do homeschooling today- Pearl just gave me a bunch of problems to do. When are we going to hang out?”

“Oh, you don’t even like me while we’re doing math. I’m sure it made no difference to you,” Pearl says, ignoring Steven’s pout at the suggestion he would ever dislike her, “I’m sure Garnet and I will be less busy soon, then we can take you put-putting.”

Steven sighs, resigned to his plight, and slowly ascends the stairs to his bedroom- slowly, for effect, but also because he’s not been feeling so hot since the last half of his third can.

He boots up  his mini-golf RPG in lieu of a family trip, and ironically, forgets all about his suggestion as he progresses through the game.

His eyes sting a little from fatigue as he reaches the final scene, but he’s so excited, he doesn’t care. Just another couple of minutes and the overarching plot will culminate in a cool reveal.

“Hello Steven,” Pearl greets, climbing up the last step and crossing the room to stand in front of his TV, “I was looking over your math- I was hoping we could go over it?”

“Y-yeah,” Steven assures her, leaning sideways to see the screen behind her well-defined calf, which takes up a small, but significant vertical strip of the animation.

“I got a surprise for you,” Garnet greets; Pearl seems to not hear his request and begins her discussion on the problems he missed.

He ignores her, trying desperately to hear the video.

“Hey, Steven!”

Amethyst. He’s happy to hear that she’s come into town, but he thinks his greeting can wait a minute more.

Steven flinches backwards as a backpack soars into his peripherals, then through his main line of vision. Realizing the real danger, he reaches forward just in time for the bag to collide directly into the console. The screen goes black, right as the bonus scene is getting really good.

“I- Amethyst!”

“Whoops,” she laughs, standing on the couch and pulling herself up so her elbows rest on his second story floor.

Pearl huffs, crouching to survey the damage Amethyst has done.

“You broke his little machine,” she scolds, “anyway, we can start with number four...”

“I don’t wanna start with number four!” Steven says, finding the slight annoyance that began when Pearl first blocked his view coming back full force, “I want to watch my epilogue!” 

“I’m sure I can fix it later,” Pearl waves her hand as if physically shooing his complaint from the room, “about number four...”

“Later!” Steven says, “It’s always later when you want it to be! I want to do math later, and greet Amethyst later, but no! We have to do math now, and throw things now because I didn’t answer right away...” 

He turns to storm off, but finds Garnet blocking his exit; unable to leave immediately, Steven feels a new spike of frustration in his gut.

“Is there nowhere I can go, when I want to say later?”

He pushes past Garnet on the stairs, careful to not actually move her, even as annoyed as he is.

Trotting down the last few steps, Steven strides out the door, quickly walking down the hill and onto the beach. 

It’s getting dark, and he’s not sure where he would go, but he doesn’t really want to stick around the house while he’s mad; he knows even something small is liable to make his mood worse right now. Glancing behind him, he can see Pearl throwing open the door to peer down at him, Garnet pushing past her a moment after to follow.

Breaking into a run, Steven keeps to the edge of the cliff- where he know’s he’s not supposed to be after the incident with Connie- and tries to slip out of sight.

It seems to have worked after he turns a corner towards a side street leading to town. Garnet’s not visibly following, and he can’t hear her trying to yell at him anymore. 

He walks slower for a while, catching his breath and letting some of his steam dissipate.

\---

It’s not long until Steven feels better. 

He can watch the epilogue on youtube, even if it would have felt better to watch it after he won himself. Pearl will fix his Nintendo, and if she can’t, he has another console he can play games on. Amethyst is in town, and she loves food, so he bets he won’t even have to eat that fourth can- which is really good, because for a while there, he had to keep pausing his game for a potty break.

Time to head back, Steven decides; he hopes Pearl and Garnet are forgiving on the subject of him running off.

If only... he knew where he was.... Steven stops, doing a full 360 degree turn. There are houses around him, so he knows he isn’t in the middle of nowhere, but in the dark, he can’t even be certain whether or not this is somewhere he’s been before. 

His mood brightens as he sees Sadie down the street, walking slowly with her hands in her pockets; she can tell him which way to go. He feels a little uneasy the closer he gets- she’s not responding to his little waves, and he was pretty sure she lived on the other side of the donut shop, not the way he assumed he came, even factoring in that he’s lost. Steven goes for one more wave before snapping his arm down to the side as “Sadie” passes under a street light. He’s still pretty sure they’re a woman, but the person’s head is down, and he’s sure they’re at least 50. Startled, Steven gives the stranger a wide berth as he walks quickly past, trying not to be too conspicuous, and hoping they didn’t take his waves as an invitation to have anything to do with him.

Time to leave quicker, he decides.

“Eugh,” Steven groans as he turns the corner onto another street lined with houses.

Each direction seems to throw him further into this maze of suburbia, and he didn’t think to grab his phone when he stormed out the door.

“I didn’t even think we lived this close to houses,” he mumbles, not quite loud enough for even himself to hear.

It’s kind of creepy, Steven thinks, without the clear landmark of the beach as a stopping point. The farther inland he gets, the easier it’ll be to keep getting lost. 

Steven huffs, wishing there was an easy way to direct himself there- if only he could use the scent of saltwater as a guide. He tilts his head upwards, but can’t see the cliffs over the tops of the houses. Only the moon is high enough to peak over the tops.

He squints unhappily at it, for a moment, before a thought occurs to him- the moon hovers over the water, at night. He was sat on the sand with Garnet just last week, admiring the ripples of light that spread across the sea, and how big the moon looked, so close to the ocean. 

If he follows the moon, Steven reasons, he can get back to the beach, then follow that to his house. 

Now he just has to get there without being kidnapped, eaten by a werewolf, or found by an annoyed Garnet. 

Steven inches closer to a tree as a car drives slowly past, the bright headlights obscuring whoever may be inside. Yep, he confirms, still creepy even with a clear path to home in mind.

\---

“Steven!” Pearl snatches him up in a hug, giving him a shake for good measure before releasing him, “Where on earth did you go? I sent Garnet and Amethyst after you; go, call them, tell them you’re back.”

“I got lost,” he says, sheepishly, as he moves to collect the main line off its docking station.

Garnet’s mad, as he expects, but she only tells him to go to bed when she gets home, heading to her room to do the same. Pearl mills around the kitchen for a while before heading in to join her partner, and Amethyst went to bed right when she got home, though Steven’s fairly sure she’s still awake.

Steven sleeps, and dreams of the epilogue. 

\---

“Steeeven,” Pearl coos, poking him softly in the ribs, in the arms, between his shoulder and neck. He wriggles into consciousness, batting at her hands as he squeaks with laughter, “wake uuup.”

Pearl helps him into a sitting position, pulling the comforter around him as he rubs the sleep from his eyes. 

Garnet sits at the edge of his bed, wearing the best pants ever, cinched tightly around her waist.

“Are we going mini golfing?” Steven asks, excitedly.

“You bet,” Garnet confirms.

He peers over the edge. Amethyst is sitting on one of the barstools, an empty can of creamed corn in front of her.

“You got any more of this?”

Steven bounces in place, scrambling off the bed a moment later to grab his clothes.

“I always get what I want!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I'd love if you'd drop a review to let me know if you liked it.


	18. Coach Steven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I was saying to the anon with some questions on my tumblr, fusions in this fic are translated into the relationship between two characters.  
> Today is Amethyst and Garnet, with Pearl trying to get herself in the middle. Enjoy!

Garnet cracks an eye open to observe the little boy clambering onto her lap. He settles with one leg to the side, the other bent in the style of criss-cross. His weight is a bit much so close to her knees, and his ankle presses hard into her thigh when he leans forward, but she makes no effort to move him.

Garnet forces her knees upward for a moment to shift the table closer, giving her calves more support to hold his weight, with her feet up on the table as they are. Steven giggles at the movement, asking if he’s hurting her; she shakes her head.

“Can I wear your glasses?” Steven asks, reaching out a hand to take them from her face; she grunts in affirmation, and he slips them off her face, putting them on himself.

Garnet squints her bad eye, but doesn’t close it, laughing silently at Steve’s suave grin as he adjusts the large, reflective shades. He closes one eye after a moment, finding the fact that the glasses are darker on one side to bother him a bit.

Eventually, he just pushes them onto his head so that he can see properly- tilting his chin down as Garnet automatically reaches to retrieve them- and picks one of Garnet’s curls from her afro, pulling it down until it straightens out.

“It’s so long,” he giggles, admiring how it stretches down all the way to her waist, “almost as long as Amethyst’s.”

He lets go of the first one, watching as it perfectly retains its previous shape, blending once again with the others. Steven collects another strand, pulling it down to her waist once again, and takes another in his other hand, noting that this one goes down even further than the first two.

“This one is longer,” he tells her.

“Hmm, I’ll have to cut it,” Garnet says.

“If you hold them, I’ll get scissors,” Steven suggests.

“No, no,” Garnet laughs, glancing towards the doorway as it swings open hard enough to hit the wall, “no-one can tell.”

“Amethyst!” Pearl scolds from the kitchen, “Be gentle with the door!”

“Yeah, fine,” Amethyst huffs, ignoring her to focus on Garnet, “ready to go?”

Garnet nods, placing a palm on Steven’s shoulder to indicate that he needs to get off her before taking her legs off the coffee table and getting to her feet. She steps in, using her calf to push the table to its original spot, and follows Amethyst out the door and onto the beach.

“Where are they going?” Steven asks.

“They’re _training_ ,” Pearl sighs, “roughhousing more like.”

“Ooh, I want to roughhouse!” Steven jokes, skipping out the door to watch.

“Steven!” Pearl scolds, following him down the steps and onto the sand.

Garnet and Amethyst are at the bottom of the hill, the shorter girl squaring off as Garnet steps closer to adjust her form.

Amethyst, at least, seems to finally be listening to her direction, lowering her squat and stabilizing her feet a little before jumping forward to grab Garnet’s waist in a rugby tackle. Garnet steps back, holding a stronger and lower squat as she moves around, rendering Amethyst’s attempts ineffective. Amethyst goes lower, trying to lift just one of Garnet’s legs to unbalance her.

It works, but Garnet’s attempts to stay on one foot have spun her around; she falls directly onto Amethyst, crushing the younger woman beneath her weight.

Garnet rolls off immediately; Amethyst, determined to show she’s okay, scrabbles to her feet, kicking up sand.

Pearl watches anxiously, one arm wrapped tensely around her midsection, the other hand pressed to her mouth in a fist.

Steven inches closer, excited. Garnet stands, adjusting her stance, and nodding to Amethyst.

This time, instead of allowing Amethyst to grab her, Garnet deflects the hit, stepping around to counter the next one. Frustrated, Amethyst charges once again, swinging an arm out to hit Garnet in the side before using the distraction to land her shoulder in Garnet’s gut.

Garnet, a little annoyed at the cheap shot, fights harder to stay on her feet, eventually pushing Amethyst off and away from her.

“Steven,” Pearl warns, moving to grab him, as the sparring duo get closer and closer; she jumps back to avoid getting knocked into by Amethyst and Steven ignores the warning, staying where he is as Amethyst makes another run.

Once again, Garnet deflects it, and Amethyst’s charge sends her stumbling hard into Steven.

“Steven!” Pearl pushes past Garnet to crouch next to Steven, who clutches his head painfully; she ignores Amethyst, beside him on the sand, and helps him onto his feet, growling over her shoulder, “Ugh, you two are too much.”

\----

“Hey Pearl,” Greg greets, “come to check out some buff studs?”

She pauses, countering his playful tone with a flippant, “no.”

Steven clambers up the hill after Pearl, inviting her to work out with them, and asking where Garnet and Amethyst went.

“I think they’re avoiding me,” Pearl mutters, lightly touching his forehead, beside the small bruise he received earlier, “Steven, you don’t need to try to be like them when they’re like this.”

“But I wanna be strong!” he counters.

“There are... different ways of being strong.”

“I want to be strong in the real way!” Steven insists, “Come on, Pearl, want to get beefy?”

“I’d rather not.”

Steven frowns at the door, shut in his face, and turns to scramble down the hill, casting a disappointed glance over his shoulder.

Greg’s gym isn’t so well built- it reminds him of the doghouse he’d tried to build Lion, before Pearl took over- but it does the job just fine.

Steven ends the day sore and tired, agreeing to meet up with Sadie, Lars, and his dad to work out again later.

He falls into an exhausted sleep, and tries not to move so much.

\----

“They’re doing it again!”

Steven wakes to Pearl’s annoyed exclamation, groaning as he sits up to try and spot her.

He sees her standing in front of the screen door, peering out onto the beach. After a moment, Pearl throws the door open, storming out to have a word with her partner and step-sister.

Steven, torn between his aching muscles and his desire to not see Pearl and Garnet get into a serious fight of the verbal nature, lays for a moment more in bed.

He thinks back to his great coaching the day before, and reluctantly gets to his feet.

“They need me,” he decides.

Pearl’s already most of the way down the hill when he steps outside. She’s stopped short, crossing her arms and waiting to see if they even acknowledge her annoyance.

Amethyst and Garnet have resumed their sparring from the other day. Garnet’s moves are calm and calculated as ever, mostly just deflecting, with no real attacks from her end. Amethyst, on the other hand, gets more and more riled up every time Garnet blocks a hit.

At one particular tackle attempt that sends Amethyst tumbling into the sand and sees Garnet still on her feet, Amethyst reaches the end of her rope. With an annoyed grunt, she jumps to her feet and tries to land an actual punch on Garnet’s side.

Garnet, surprised, takes the hit, countering the second one meant for her gut, and steps back with her arms held defensively.

She’s got her shades off, so they don’t break on her face in the case of a bad fall, so Steven is afforded a rare moment of full expression on Garnet’s face. She looks furious.

Her bad eye cracks open to allow her depth perception, and she counters Amethyst’s next swing with a hefty shove, knocking Amethyst onto the sand.

Pearl, alarmed, jumps into the middle as Amethyst jumps up to hit again.

Garnet, upon seeing her partner, flinches back, almost falling on the shifting grains of sand as she tries to stop her forward momentum. She succeeds, unlike Amethyst, who barrels into Pearl angrily.

They fall to the ground at Garnet’s feet, Amethyst still a little riled up, and Pearl looking upset that she got hit.

“Go Pearl!” Steven cheers, seeing that she looks on the brink of tears; Pearl glances towards him, nodding once.

She pulls a leg out from under Amethyst, bucking sideways and kicking her leg over. The momentum sends Amethyst onto her back, so Pearl is on top of her.

“Cut it out!” Pearl says, “Will you both stop this? You’re going to hurt each other!”

Garnet, ashamed almost the second she stopped fighting, nods. She sits, in a non-threatening position.

Amethyst still looks ticked, at first, but as her gaze settles on Pearl’s new, bleeding, split lip, she looks a bit guilty.

Pearl slides off of her, sitting between Garnet and Amethyst.

“We’ll uh, stop doing this,” Amethyst says, staring at her boots.

“Controlled training only,” Garnet agrees, “not on each other.”

“Thanks,” Pearl sighs, throwing an arm behind each of their necks and pulling them towards her in half a hug, half a headlock.

“Yeah, Pearl!” Steven cheers, throwing himself onto her lap.

“Oof,” she huffs, painfully, pulling her arms down to grab her stomach.

“Oops, sorry.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the reviews thus far- I'd love if you drop a comment to let me know how you liked it.


	19. Steven and the Crystal Gems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My damn air conditioning doesn't work, which is really something in this Texas summer heat. I may be slowly dying.

Steven hears his dreams crashing down with a sickening crunch. Greg’s frantic, spinning around and clutching a hand to his head as he gapes at the boat thoroughly jammed in his car-wash.

“Sorry buddy, I don’t think I can make the concert tonight- I gotta deal with this,” Greg tells him, hammering home his suspicions.

Steven nods, understanding but forlorn, and steps slowly onto his scooter, giving a half-hearted push away from the chaos. 

“Stupid boat getting stuck!” Steven mutters, aloud to himself, “Nobody likes you boat! I wish I could’ve been there to tell my dad you were too fat!”

On the long scoot home, Steven imagines jumping in to save the day. Then his dad could play with him. None of the gems in his game have time-related powers as he imagines them now, but they have all sorts of magical artifacts.

Steven steps off the scooter as a hill becomes too much for his best efforts, and drags it along behind him, rooting around in his pocket as he walks; after a moment, his fingers close around a cool, rounded glass. He’d pulled it from a board game Pearl bought him- the game was kind of boring, but it looked pretty, which he guessed is what appealed to Pearl at the time of purchase. The hourglass was a little functionally inept, as trying to set it down would invariably lead to it rolling onto its side, so no sand would fall through; it had to be held the whole time it was being used, or it wouldn’t really work. It was pretty though. A gold ring ran through the diameter of the glass ball, and the hourglass seemed to float magically in the center- Pearl said it was likely held in place by some sort of clear gel, but Steven liked the sound of magic better. It would be the perfect tool for a Crystal Gem hoping to hop back in time.

The game is entertaining the whole way back, but by the time Steven has imagined the whole scenario, and arrived back home, his dad is still preoccupied with a fat boat, and he is still stuck without a partner for the night. Steven stuffs the hourglass in his pocket, tilting his head up towards the music coming from his bedroom. The rhythmic tapping along with the beat, a little harder than the game intended, tells him Amethyst is playing the drums on his video game.

Steven runs quickly up the stairs, sitting beside Amethyst and watching her hit all of the notes; she’s gotten better at it. 

“Do you think you could play like that on real drums?” Steven asks.

“I mean, I could hit ‘em and sounds would come out,” Amethyst says, “and I could follow a beat.”

“Great, thanks!” Steven says, running back downstairs to follow up on his new idea. 

Pearl can sing; he’s heard her, around the house. Her voice is soft and high and lovely. Sometimes he likes to sit out of sight and listen so she won’t get embarrassed and stop.

She’s got a violin, as well, though he’s not sure if that fits in with his rock-band theme. 

Garnet can sing, too, from what he’s heard of her singing along to the radio. Plus, she can play the piano really well. She’s got a keyboard which she keeps stashed with his instruments and sometimes plays to keep her skills sharp. 

His dad and Amethyst are social people, and good sports when it comes to interacting with the residents of Beach City, but Steven can’t say the same for Garnet and Pearl. They mostly keep to themselves, even when they’re out and about with him or Amethyst. Convincing them to perform in front of the whole town- even if it is like 15 people, as his dad says- is going to be tough. He’s got to get them to practice without realizing what they’re doing.

Steven knocks loudly on their door, leaning against the opposite wall as he waits for a response. 

After a minute, the door cracks open to reveal Pearl, clad in bright green short-shorts and a light blue t-shirt. She’s wearing Garnet’s button-up pajama top, unbuttoned, for warmth. Her short, dyed hair is a bit ruffled, and she runs a hair through it to smooth it down as she waits for Steven to speak.

“Pearl,” Steven says, “Amethyst and I are going to do karaoke, do you want to join us?”

“Ooh,” Pearl says, hand running over her skull, across the back of her neck, over the bottom of her jaw, until it eventually rests in a thoughtful position over her jaw, long slender fingers  splayed out over her lips as she considers this.

It doesn’t take much considering, and Steven had guessed her answer would be yes from the first second, from the way her eyes lit up.

“Garnet, do you want to do karaoke?” Pearl asks, tilting her head out of the limited view of the room Steven is afforded.

After a moment  she swings the door open so Steven can enter. Their room is neat as ever, and Pearl steps over to make the bed the second Garnet’s butt leaves the mattress. Garnet is clad in the bottom half of the red, plaid pajamas, and in the baggy karate tiger t-shirt Steven got her for her birthday one year.

Steven runs ahead to set up some instruments for their practice, putting out a microphone, Garnet’s keyboard, his electric guitar, and some drums- they’re not as nice as Greg’s, which Steven is hoping they’ll be able to borrow, but they’ll do for now.

“Oh, we’re playing instruments, too? I thought karaoke was just singing?” Pearl glances to Garnet for confirmation of this, “Well that sounds fun, can I get my violin?”

“Can you play your violin in a rock and roll manner?” Steven asks.

“I can try...”

\-----

Pearl’s attempts to play her violin in a rock and roll manner are quite impressive, Steven must admit, and a bit funny. He can tell she’s trying to get into the rhythm of what he’s playing, and her bow moves quickly over the strings in order to emulate a pumped up song. Amethyst follows along, playing too hard on the drums behind him, but keeping the beat. 

Garnet’s singing this one, along to Steven’s lead on the guitar. She knows most of the words, glancing to her phone for help once in a while. Pearl leans over his shoulder to get a better look at the music sheet he’s gotten out, and Steven, not using it anyway, inches to the side so she has a better view. 

The song ends, and Pearl lowers her violin, looking exhausted. Steven thinks she might be a little bit, but after a second, she lifts it back to her chin and plays a softer tune she knows by heart.

Garnet sits on the couch, taking a moment to listen before joining Pearl on her keyboard. Once Garnet has picked up the tune, and Pearl is confident she knows the notes, Pearl sets down her violin, singing the lyrics. It’s a sweet love song, which Steven doesn’t know, but Pearl’s voice is so nice, with Garnet’s skillful playing in the backdrop, that he opts to sit and listen. Amethyst joins in, playing softly for once; the light brushes of her drumsticks over the cymbal and the light tapping on the drumskin accentuate the song nicely.

Steven considers recording for a moment, to catch this memory forever, but sits back instead, taking it in for himself. He feels content, with his family playing, and closes his eyes for a moment to take it all in. When he opens them again, Pearl is smiling at him, trying to hold in a giddy laugh while she sings, apparently caught up in the same feeling he’s in. Garnet’s got an uncharacteristic grin on her face, and Amethyst seems chill as she lightly taps out the beat.

All too soon, the song ends.

Steven jumps to his feet the second Garnet’s fingers leave the keyboard and drop to her lap, whooping and clapping for the three women before him. 

Pearl blushes, sitting down beside Garnet. Amethyst slams a drumstick hard into the cymbal, for a finishing note far less calm than the rest of the song. 

“That was great!” Steven says, “We’re gonna be awesome at Beachapalooza!”

“Hm?” Pearl says.

“Yeah!” Amethyst shouts, slamming the cymbal again.

“We’re doing Beachapalooza?”

“Dad can’t go!” Steven says, the boat’s fat!”

“The- wha-?” Pearl holds up a hand to cut Steven off before he can explain, “We haven’t even rehearsed anything. It’s in 8 hours.”

“That’s plenty of time!” Steven insists, “We only have to sing one song! I wrote it to sing with Dad, but I’ll rewrite it, and we can learn it.”

“I guess...”

“We’ll see.”

“Okay, you guys take a cookie break, and I’ll get back to you.”

\----

Pearl and Garnet emerge from their room some time later at the sounds of Steven’s call. They’ve gone cookie-less, but Amethyst has eaten enough for the three of them anyway.

Pearl picks up the sheet music Steven's set out for her, which have been neatly penned four times on the printout blank music sheets that she got for him. 

She’s impressed with his talent- he wrote the song himself, the previous week, and he’s now put it down in a way that will make it easy to play on her violin, which has a different scale than his guitar. A quick glance at the other music sheets confirms that they’ve all got their own, separate parts, and he’s even written the words in underneath so they can follow along as they play. His handwriting on the small words is atrocious, but the rest of it is so nice, Pearl opts to ignore that one fault.

He’s written a song about them all, referring to this subset of his family as the Crystal Gems. The theme is wishing to change time but appreciate the moment, and though it’s a little simple, Pearl loves it tremendously.

She’s not looking forward to performing anything in front of the town, but she wants to see Steven play; right beside him is probably the best seat in the house anyway.

“Okay,” Pearl says, the last to give in, “I’ll play your song.”

Steven hops, strumming the first note of the song excitedly.

“One,” Amethyst chants, “two, three, four...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know how you liked it. :)


	20. Feral Buddies

Steven holds his shield out protectively in front of him as he creeps closer to the potential danger before him. The sun glints off the pink plastic, immediately alerting the resting cat to his movements. It sits still on the rock, haunches raised, but makes no attempt to leave its sunny spot.

Taking this as a good sign, Steven lets his shield fall onto the sand. The grumpy stray had done quite a number on his arm in the past, but he was willing to forgive and forget in the name of comradery.

Remembering what Pearl had told him about cats, he changes direction, moving vaguely towards the feline, but not heading straight for it. When he’s a little over 8 feet away, he slowly drops all the way to his stomach, lying on the sand with his eyes closed.

Steven waits as patiently as he can, but before too long, the anticipation gets to him; cracking open an  eye, he subtly tilts his head towards the rock to see what the cat is doing.

It’s gone.

Steven sighs, ready to give up and go home when he feels the lightest of touches on his calf. Twisting his upper body and craning his head, he glances back to see the stray curiously sniffing at him. It sets a tentative paw on his thigh, using it as a springboard to jump over him when he doesn’t move. Steven giggles involuntarily at the pressure, and the cat freezes once more, inspecting him out of the corner of her eye.

“Steven?”

The cat, which he had jokingly dubbed Centipeetle after one of the monsters in his story after it scratched up his arm, dashes behind its rock at the worried call.

“Shh, Pearl,” Steven rolls onto his back, holding his hands up, “I’m making friends with the Centipeetle- she likes me!”

He sits up, shifting onto his knees, but not standing just yet. The Centipeetle watches warily.

“Didn’t that cat claw the heck out of your arm last time you played with it?” Pearl points out, “Just leave it alone.”

“Awh,” he looks up at Garnet, “but I think I could tame it! It’s hungry and alone because it doesn’t know it needs to be nice to get people to take care of it. Please Garnet...”

Garnet frowns, gaze fixed to the boy kneeling in the sand. Steven’s pout transcends puppy dog eyes, as the genuine worry that this cat might go hungry shines through.

“I can’t say no to that face,” Garnet mutters, ignoring Pearl’s protests, “I think you should try to tame it, Steven.”

“Garnet, thank you so much!” Steven says, jumping to his feet to give Garnet a hug; Pearl looks a little annoyed, so he goes over and gives her a hug, too.

The Centipeetle has still not run when he turns to face it; instead, it has begun licking itself, paws sunk into the sand to try and maintain balance.

Steven walks past it, sitting down and smiling as it comes to see him. He doesn’t look at the cat, but slowly lifts a hand so it can smell him. It sniffs his finger, rubbing its face lightly against his outstretched hand.

“That’s a good kitty,” Steven praises, lightly petting the fur on its chest, “good ki- woah!”

The cat spits at him, lowering its body and turning towards the newly perceived threat.

Pearl is where she was, eyeing the situation critically, a little ruffled by the cat’s hiss; Garnet, now, is kneeling, one hand around Lion’s pink collar.

“Uh, thanks for holding him, Garnet,” Steven says, “but can you take him out of here? I’d rather do this by myself. I think you three are scaring the cat.”

“Absolutely not,” Pearl declares, crossing her arms; the cat is still visibly perturbed, and Steven can see that Pearl is holding herself back from getting him away from it.

“Steven can handle it,” Garnet says, shuffling away as she tries to lead the dog home by its collar.

“Garnet!” Pearl protests.

“Pearl.”

Pearl huffs, following quickly after her. Steven’s glad she’s leaving him to the cat, but he can hear her fighting back with Garnet as she walks, so he’s not sure how long it’ll last.

“It’s okay, friend,” Steven coos, “it’s just us now. Calm, calm, just like before. Relax and put your hair down.”

He reaches out a hand tentatively, opening his fist to reveal one of lion’s dog treats, torn into more manageable bites for a cat.

Apparently, the Centipeetle’s hunger wins out over her fright. She snatches the treat out of his hand; Steven giggles at the whiskers skimming over his fingers, and at the light brush of teeth over his palm.

The cat sits back, chewing the meaty morsel with her mouth open. She gazes curiously at the boy in front of her as she swallows it, clearly hoping for more delicious sustenance.

Fortunately, delicious sustenance is something Steven has more of. He’s packed his pockets with dog treats, hoping that the cat might like them, despite being a feline and not a canine.

He pulls out another piece, carefully petting the cat before giving her the treat, as a reward.

\------

“Garnnneetttt,” Steven kicks the door open, excitedly, but quietly, calling for his guardian.

She and Pearl are standing in the kitchen, and look up when he comes in.

Garnet gives a thumbs-up at the armful of cat she observes, but Pearl looks more than a little worried.

“Steven,” Pearl says, moving slowly so as not to startle the feral animal, “be careful with that too close to your face.”

“Yes,” Garnet says, “or we might have four working eyes between the three of us.”

Steven giggles silently; the movements of his stomach causes the cat to shift in his arms, but she settles back down after a moment.

“Look, she really likes me!”

Pearl steps forward, careful to avoid eye contact, and lifts a hand towards the cat.

It spits, seemingly doubling in size in Steven’s arms; Pearl jumps back, not wanting to startle the cat while Steven is holding it.

He drops the cat, who lands on its feet and dashes up the stairs into his room.

“Steven,” Pearl scolds, “this is unacceptable.”

“Awh, come on Pearl!” Steven protests, “It can live in the house! It’ll get used to us all eventually.”

“It’s a feral cat,” she points out, “and it’s too old to train.”

He glances towards Garnet, for support, but this time she stays quiet, even through his pout; it seems Pearl’s arguments have gotten through to her, at least a little.

“But it’s hungry!” Steven points out.

“It can’t be that hungry,” Pearl says, “look at it. It looks skinny, but that’s the size it’s supposed to be- it’s a cat. I bet it catches the mice off the boardwalk. If anything, we’re lucky to have it around... not in our house.”

“Can we try for a bit?” Steven begs.

“You have a dog! I let you keep the dog!” Pearl says, “Listen, I like cats much better, so you have to trust me when I admit that that dog is a better pet than this cat.”

Steven frowns deeper, looking towards the stairs.

“Centipeetle...” Steven calls, hoping the cat will come back down so Pearl will change her mind.

Pearl doesn’t say anything more, watching him silently from one of the barstools.

He climbs the stairs to his loft, finding that cat crammed between his nightstand in the wall. Steven leaves it there, for the time being, setting out a small bowl of Lion’s food, and puts on a video game, hoping the cat will come out on his own and warm up to everyone before Pearl has a chance to kick her out.

She eats the food, but slithers back into her hiding spot before Steven has a chance to catch her; he goes back to his game.

The next time Steven checks, the cat has gone again. He looks through the few hiding spaces available in the loft before heading downstairs to look.

“Centi...” Steven calls, “Centipeetle...”

Steven turns his head towards the front door as it opens, holding a finger to his lips. Garnet nods, holding the door open for her partner and repeating the gesture to Pearl.

“Is the cat still hid- eaugh!” Pearl jumps sideways to avoid the ball of fur hurtling itself at her feet; she collides with Garnet, who wraps a steadying arm around the smaller woman’s waist.

The cat, seizing its opportunity, dashes out the door and down the steps onto the sand. Steven follows, careful to not bump into Pearl as he follows the animal out the door.

“Where’s it going?” Steven asks, watching the cat run down the hill and along the cliff that he’s not allowed to play under.

“Back to the boardwalk, I assume,” Pearl says.

“But... why doesn’t it stay here? I gave it food...” Steven pouts, “I can give her actual cat food, once I buy some.”

“It’s not a pet,” Pearl says, extracting herself from Garnet’s hold and placing a reassuring hand on Steven’s head, “it’s a feral cat. It doesn’t like people, or confined spaces. It’s very nervous, and it’s perfectly happy living outside and catching mice like a wild animal.”

“You did your best,” Garnet adds.

“And maybe you’ll run into it again and you’ll be the only kid in the town that can pet it without getting their eyes clawed out. As long as you wash your hands after,” Pearl adds, “go wash your hands, Steven.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all who have read and reviewed so far!


	21. Cliffside Picnic (Rose's Fountain)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To somehow adapt this into a Rose-related fic or keep the central plot. Unfortunately, only the latter. Maybe next time Rose-related shenanigans are involved, I can get a little more creative. Don't worry, I have plans for some of the Rose related ones coming up. 
> 
> Hellweek just finished, so I should have a little free time until the next hell week.

“Are you okay?”

Steven had been so excited for their picnic when she first proposed it, but now that they’re together, with the blanket, and the food, and the juice- some of Steven’s favorite things- he doesn’t look so happy.

“I’m fine,” Steven says, unconvincingly.

She hands him his sandwich; it doesn’t seem to brighten his mood; yet he denies being morose once again.

“Is this fence new?” she asks, trying to respect his feelings by changing the subject, instead of continuing to pester him about his mood.

“Uh, it’s a long story,” Steven sighs.

“Well, what happened? Tell me,” Connie asks, “please.”

“Okay, okay, but it’s not a happy story...” Steven says, “Amethyst was horsing around by the cliff...”

\----

“Amethyst! Be Careful!”

“Steven, why are you getting so worked up?” Amethyst scoffed, before batting her eyelashes at Steven, “Why, do you care about me or something?”

“Yes,” Steven whimpered, stepping hesitantly closer.

Amethyst, unmindful of his unease, stepped closer to the edge, wobbling around like she was trying to catch her balance, and brushed his further warnings.

“Please, Steven; I’m not gonna fa-” Amethyst’s sentence cut out with a terrified wheeze as the rock shifted beneath her feet.

She scrabbled towards Steven for a split second, but found no purchase in the crumbling rock, ultimately only brushing her forearms on the edge before dropping out of sight.

“Amethyst!” Steven called, running towards the edge to peek over.

He was hesitant about getting too close, but he needed to look, to make sure this wasn’t a prank; this was exactly what he was warning her of, but he couldn’t believe it happened. 

His heart, which felt like it was thudding out of his chest a moment before, seemed to stop altogether at the sight of the girl on the sand below the cliff. 

“Amethyst?” Steven said; it was intended as a call, to see if she would answer, but it came out barely louder than his indoor voice.

“PEARL,” Steven yelled, turning on his heel towards the decline, “GARNET!” 

He raced down the hill, scrabbling to get his phone out of his pocket in case he needed an ambulance. He hoped he didn’t, he thought, before amending his statement. Actually, he hoped he did. 

\---

“So I ran there as fast as I could,” Steven said.

Connie nodded, paying rapt attention. 

\---

He crouched next to her, poking her lightly.

“Amethyst?”

Steven jumped at the feeling of a hand on his back. The phone was yanked from his hand just after he finished dialing the three digits.

“What happened?” Pearl gasped, removing her hand and circling to see Amethyst’s face; Garnet took over the 911 call, relaying the situation calmly from a short distance away.

Pearl brushed the hair from Amethyst’s face, and was rewarded with a pained groan.

“Amethyst!”

“What happened?” Pearl repeated, rubbing Amethyst’s back soothingly, and allowing her a moment to breathe.

“She fell off the cliff,” Steven explained, pointing upwards. 

It wasn’t such a huge height from the bottom, Steven thought, 12 feet or so, but it sure looked like a bad distance to fall when he was looking over the edge. 

“Of course... How could I have been so blind? We need to put a fence up there, so this will never happen again!”

\----

“And that’s why there’s a fence,” Steven concludes.

“Wait, what happened to Amethyst?”

“Uhhh,” Steven whimpers, “I don’t wanna.”

Connie frowns back at him. After some convincing facial expressions, a trade is agreed upon, and Steven reluctantly continues his tale.

\---

“What hurts?” Garnet asked, tersely.

“My arm hurts like hell,” Amethyst muttered, “and my head.”

“What did you have for breakfast this morning?” Pearl asked, softly, as Garnet relayed the information to the operator.

“I don’t know what I fuckin’ ate,” Amethyst groaned, rolling onto her back and holding her arm; her breath was coming out in quick, short goes, "eugh, we might figure out in a second though."

“Breathe, Amethyst. Think about what you ate, and tell me.”

“Urgh,” she screwed her eyes shut against the sun, and Pearl put a hand over them, waiting patiently for the answer, “I had like four of those chocolate chip waffles from the freezer,” she said, finally.

“Well, if you’ve got a concussion, it can’t be too serious; you answered quickly enough... What’s ninety-three minus seven?”

Amethyst groaned, opting to not respond.

Garnet wandered back over after a moment, crouching beside them. 

“Ambulance should be here soon,” she relayed, “but the sand is going to slow them down.”

\---

The ambulance didn't do much for Amethyst other than to confirm that she was able to be moved, and drive her to the hospital; they said her arm was likely broken, and backed up Pearl's theory about having a slight concussion, advising her not to sleep for a little while. 

Once they arrived, there was quite a wait to be seen by the nurses, despite Amethyst being in a lot of pain. Steven sat quietly beside her in the plastic chairs of the ER, watching her wriggling uncomfortably in her seat, and hoping he had something to say to make her feel better.

Pearl and Garnet had wandered off at some point. He’d figured they’d left to find some help, but they came back with coffees, so he figured they really went to do that. 

“When are they going to call her?” Steven asked.

“Oh, it might not be for a bit. She’s not dying of anything,” Pearl said, "unfortunately there's nothing more we can do but wait for them to call us- we talked to a nurse a minute ago, but she was no help."

Steven nodded; he had been trying not to stare at the few more serious cases he’d seen. A man with a rag pressed to his bleeding arm sat a few seats over. Pearl didn’t seem to know where to look either, clearly a little uncomfortable with all the sick and bloody people around her. 

After what felt like an eternity for him, and must have felt even longer for Amethyst, they were called back. 

The nurse allowed them all to come through. Steven, Pearl, and Garnet waited in the hall for Amethyst to get her x-rays, before they could follow her to the room where she’d get her cast.

“Oh, I can’t believe this even happened,” Pearl said, seemingly unable to hold her tongue a moment longer, “you two should not have been playing so close to that cliff.”

“I told her not to...” Steven mumbled.

“I mean, we already knew they were dangerous! You and Connie got hit by those rocks playing under that  _ other  _ cliff. The edges simply aren’t that stable,” Pearl continued.

“We’ll be more careful.”

“Oh Steven, you’re just too much trouble living with us on the beach. I don’t know if we can have you spending time with us anymore.”

\---

“She didn’t really say that!” Connie says.

“Well, no, but that’s what it felt like...” Steven groans, “she’s always getting onto me about not being careful. I cause Garnet and Pearl so much work.”

“Is that why you’ve been so down?” Connie asks; at his shrug, she hands his juice back- it only seems fair, having recovered her glasses during the story. 

“Well  _ I  _ was the one playing under the cliff, not you,” Connie corrects, “and Amethyst was the one messing around on the edge.

“In fact, I bet they’re happy you were there. You saved me with your shield, and you got Pearl, Garnet, and the ambulance for Amethyst.”

Steven raises his eyebrows, thinking about this. 

He nods, leaning in to throw his arms around her.

“Thanks, Connie!”

“Yeah, sure,” she says, ducking her head shyly before digging around in the picnic basket for something to do, “hey, next time, let’s bring more juice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I've been getting messages about this fic on my tumblr of the same name (theoncomingwolf); I'm glad there's been enough enjoyment of it to prompt questions. Hopefully someday I can catch up with canon and write some of the eps I've been asked about.........
> 
> Reviews are great motivation, and they make me happy, so if you have a moment, I'd really appreciate it. Thx!


	22. Beach Summer Fun Buddy (Mirror Gem)

“Okay, Steven, I’ve got some free time if you’re ready for your algebra lesson,”

“Uhh,” Steven looks over to her, panicked, “but it’s summer vacation!”

Connie snickers on the other end of the line.

“Excuse me?”

“I gotta go, Steven! Good luck!” Connie says, hanging up on him and leaving him alone with the threat of algebra.

“Connie was just telling me about it,” he explains, “other kids get time off during the summer.”

“Yes, well, other kids have to go to school for eight hours a day, every day.”

Steven pulls a face. He doesn’t think he would like that. 

“You, on the other hand, are lucky enough live with Garnet and me, who work at home a lot, so you don’t have to do that.”

Steven considers this.

“Garnet’s home right now,” he tells her, “you should hang out with her. Teachers get summer break too.”

Pearl holds a hand up to counter this, but after a moment of consideration, she puts her hand down.

“Okay, you can play for a bit," Pearl relents, coming over to his logic, "but we’re getting back to this algebra later, okay?”

“So,” Steven hops excitedly, “what you’re saying is... School’s out for summer?”

“Sure,” Pearl says, waving him off, “but we’re working tomorrow.”

“School’s out!”

Steven tears out the front door, feeling especially excited, despite generally being free to do as he pleases for many hours during the day.

He runs into Lars and Sadie, tidying the outside seating area, on his dash through town.

Into Lars more literally.

“Watch where you’re going you little fu-” he glances to Sadie, “Sssteven.”

Steven bounces on the spot, telling them how excited he is about summer. Sadie seems apathetic, but Lars has his own plans to meet girls.

Sadie counters that maybe she’ll make a friend.

“That's a great idea - A special new friend to have fun on the beach with in the summer,” Steven says, “maybe I’ll meet my own beach summer fun buddy today!” 

He leaves them to their work, skipping down the boardwalk.

The sun is hot, but the weather should be the perfect temperature for swimming. Maybe his new friend will be hanging out in the ocean. He kind of hopes not, since he didn’t bring his swim trunks, and Pearl banned him from swimming in his underwear going forward. 

He’s too distracted by the thoughts of buddies, fun, summer, and beaches to notice the large truck bearing down on him.

“Watch out!”

Steven catches sight of Mayor Dewey’s giant head just as a hand clamps over his shoulder and a body moves between him and the vehicle.

The truck stops in plenty of time, but Mayor Dewey seems peeved by the encounter anyway.

“Car-Wash Kid, what are you doing?” 

“I don’t-” 

“Him?” his protector yells back, “He’s a pedestrian! On the  _ boardwalk _ . Why were you even driving here?”

“I'm the mayor,” he counters, “I'm not going to walk anywhere. Now, go get run over somewhere else. I'm late for a speech.”

The woman huffs at him as he leaves, wheels making a troubling sound across the old wood of the boardwalk. 

Steven looks up at this new woman curiously. He’s never seen her before, and he thinks he’s seen everyone in Beach City. She must be one of those visiting “babes” Lars was telling him about.

She’s around Pearl’s height, with light brown skin and dyed blue hair. She has on a light dress to match the hair, which flutters nicely in the breeze; the dress appears to be the kind you pull over swimsuits, and her feet are bare, so he suspects he’s right about his new Beach Summer Fun Buddy being a swimmer. 

She’s still fuming about the truck thing, even though he’s over it, so Steven does the first thing that comes to mind to take her mind off of it. 

“Pphppt.”

She turns her head quickly towards him at the noise, making the connection at the sight of his palms held to his mouth. 

She stares at him for a good couple of seconds before it all becomes too much for her. Her laughter comes unwillingly, sputtering between her closed lips. The woman leans over, and gives a proper laugh as he joins in, echoing the noise back at him. 

Once their giggles have receded, she walks towards the beach, asking him his name; he appreciates the view he’s afforded of her back as she turns away- she has a neat pair of wings tattooed on each shoulder, folded as if not in use. Between them, there is a large teardrop; or waterdrop; raindrop?

“I’m Steven,” he greets.

“Lapis," she tells him, "Lazuli."

She spots the mayor’s truck just as the sounds of his speech carry over to them via his megaphone.

“Hello, Beach City, my friends!” Mayor Dewey begins, “It's great to be here to celebrate the coming season. A warm summer breeze wafts through the air.”

Lapis turns to him with a devilish look in her eye, bringing her hands up to her mouth.

The crowd laughs at the sound. Steven laughs too, sitting on the sand, and Lapis keeps it together enough to deliver another fart noise following the next segment of Dewey’s speech. The crowd laughs even louder. 

Eventually, the speech ends and the crowd leaves, leaving him alone on the sand with his new Beach Summer Fun Buddy. 

He knows he’s not really supposed to hang with strangers. It’s never really been a problem in Beach City before, but he figures that they’re at least out in the open, with many residents who know him in clear view. 

Besides, he’s never met a real elementary teacher, but this woman kind of reminds him of what they seem like on TV. She’s a bit silly, despite looking around Pearl’s age, but he supposes teachers of little kids can be goofy. Otherwise, they’d probably get bored. He bets that’s what she does for a living; she’s probably just out for summer break.

“You’re pretty funny,” he tells her, “you got a lot of mileage out of that joke.”

“Thanks,” she laughs.

“Are you a teacher?” he asks her.

“Uhm, no?”

“Oh well.”

Steven watches the sun dip over the horizon. It casts pretty colors over the water, but it also means he should probably be getting home. If the sun is setting in summertime, it’s probably pretty late. 

“Hey, you should come over for dinner!” he suggests, “You don’t live around here, do you?”

“No,” she says, “I’m just visiting.”

“Well I’m going to have to say I’ve been hanging out with a stranger today, but if they meet you, they’ll know that you’re not dangerous, so they won’t be mad at me.”

“Good plan, but I don't know about that,” Lapis says, “I can at least walk you home; it’s getting dark. You should probably listen about strangers though.”

“Okay,” Steven says, “but I still want you to stay for dinner.”

They chat on the way. He tells her about how he’s homeschooled, but he got the day off; she tells him she’s been out of school for a while, but she doesn’t really tell him what her job is. She thinks it’s funny that he thought she was an elementary school teacher.

In no time, they’ve arrived at his house, around the corner of the beach.

“Wow, you live in a cool place,” Lapis marvels, “I was starting to wonder if I should be the one not trusting strangers when we started heading this far out.”

Steven laughs, leading her up the hill.

“No, we’re safe,” he swings the door open, calling out for his guardians, “Pearl! Garnet! I brought a friend for dinner, I hope that’s okay.”

He spots them instantly, standing in the kitchen- Garnet is leaning in her usual corner, and Pearl is stirring a pot of something over the stove.

Pearl glances towards his guest; there is a friendly expression on her face for a good second or two, before the smile drops and her eyes widen.

Garnet seems similarly spooked, pushing herself away from the counter and standing, back straight and shoulders as broad as possible. 

“I can’t believe my fucking eyes,” Pearl mutters, the weird look in her eye still there.

Pearl cursing really throws him off, but he tries to explain what he’s doing before he gets in more trouble.

“I know I’m not supposed to hang out with strangers,” Steven explains, looking towards Lapis; it’s when he sees her expression that he finally thinks he might be out of the loop on something.

Lapis hovers for a moment more, until Garnet takes a careful step forward; then, she’s out the door in a hot second. He hears her bare feet pattering on the wooden steps.

Garnet glides forward, after her.

Steven blocks the door.

“Hey,” Steven says, “what’s going on? I think you guys scared her.”

“Steven, move.”

She leans towards him when he doesn’t budge, setting a hand on the side of his shoulder to gently move him out of the way.   
He brings his arm up out of her grip, swinging it towards her in an attempt to get her to back off. 

He flinches as her glasses hit the floor and he realizes what he’s done.

“Auhhh... I’m sorry!” he cries, turning on his heel to follow Lapis.

As he runs down the hill, he can hear Pearl insisting he didn’t mean it as the two of them follow him outside. 

Steven spots Lapis by the rocks on the beach, still apparently undecided about running off. 

He slides and trips down the hill to greet her, and to figure out what is going on. 

“Lapis!” Steven gasps, “What’s going on?”

“Steven... I...” she flinches back as she spots Pearl and Garnet; her hand moves towards her side, as if reaching for a bag; upon realizing she’s only in her beach clothes, barefoot even, she seems to grow more nervous, “Listen, Steven... I... These women... just be careful, okay? I should go.”

“Wait, Lapis!” 

She sprints for town, her pace slowed somewhat by the shifting sand beneath her feet, but still only disadvantaged as much as Pearl and Garnet are. As she runs past Garnet, she tosses the sand in her hand towards the taller woman’s face, not looking back.

Garnet, once more wearing her glasses, merely shakes the sand out of her hair with an annoyed huff. She doesn’t pursue. 

“What was that about?” he asks, meekly.

“Don’t talk to strangers,” Garnet tells him, as Pearl wraps him up in a hug, “Steven, you’re grounded.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this chapter! This episode was the real turning point of the show for me. Future chapters will follow that theme.
> 
> If you have a moment, I'd love if you'd drop a review. Thanks!


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